China to increase coastal forces

China's offshore surveillance force will be beefed up to ensure that the country's maritime interests are fully protected amid increasing disputes with its neighbors. By 2020, a total of 15,000 personnel, compared with 9,000 now, will serve in the China Maritime Surveillance (CMS) force under the State Oceanic Administration, a senior official with the CMS told China Daily. The CMS air arm will be increased to 16 planes and the patrol fleet will have 350 vessels during the period of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the official said, adding that the fleet will have more than 520 vessels by 2020. There have been an increasing number of intrusions by foreign vessels and planes into Chinese waters and airspace in recent years," the newspaper said. It said that the coastal forces had logged 1,303 foreign ships and 214 planes intruding in 2010, compared with a total of 110 cases in 2007.