South China Sea: Chinese permanent rescue and maritime offices stationed on disputed Spratly Islands
- China’s three biggest man-made islands in the Spratlys will host a new flying squadron, as well as maritime rescue and administration staff
- There have long been calls to upgrade search and rescue capabilities ‘to enhance China’s dominance over South China Sea affairs’
This boosts a regular on-call rescue ship deployment into a permanent institutional presence that could greatly improve the coverage of the southern area of the South China Sea.
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China ramps up training of carrier fighter jet pilots to bolster PLA navy
The forward-stationed Chinese departments will “undertake maritime emergency rescue tasks, perform maritime traffic safety supervision and prevention of ship pollution and other duties in the Nansha (Spratly) waters, provide strong protection for the safety of ship navigation and daily production activities at sea for the people of coastal countries”, state news agency Xinhua reported, using the Chinese name for the archipelago.
“This is a concrete step for China to better provide public goods to the international community and actively fulfil its international responsibilities and obligations,” the report added.
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The South China Sea dispute explained
Beijing claims sweeping sovereignty over the South China Sea under what it calls its historical nine-dash line, including all of the Spratly archipelago. However, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan have competing claims over some or all of the islands. Beijing has refused to accept a 2016 ruling on the Spratlys by an international tribunal at The Hague that was overwhelmingly in favour of claims by the Philippines.