South China Sea law enforcement ship unveiled as Beijing seeks to tighten control over disputed waters The vessel will be patrolling and supervising hundreds of islands in the area where many countries have overlapping claims The ship’s builder says it will be used to ‘safeguard China’s maritime rights and interests, especially sovereignty’

The statement said it will be “of great significance in safeguarding China’s maritime rights and interests, especially sovereignty”.

Sansha is an administrative unit created as a prefecture level city in 2012 to administer a sparsely populated group of 260 islands and reefs in the Paracel Islands and Macclesfield Bank – an area also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan – as well as in the resource-rich Spratly Islands, where there are overlapping claims from Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

Beijing has steadily been improving its infrastructure facilities in the South China Sea as part of its efforts to strengthen its control over the area.

Last week, Beijing said it had stationed a flying squadron as well as maritime rescue and administration staff on the Fiery Cross, Subi and Mischief reefs, the three biggest man-made islands in the Spratlys to improve its search and rescue operations.,

Beijing said the move would “better provide public goods to the international community and actively fulfil its international responsibilities and obligations”, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

There is growing concern that the South China Sea could become a flashpoint in the confrontation between China and the United States with Washington regarding it as a key area in its strategy to contain China and conducting regular “freedom of navigation” operations – sometimes with allies such as Japan and Australia.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, Jung Pak, US deputy assistant secretary for East Asia at the State Department, claimed that China had stepped up its provocations against South China Sea claimants and other states lawfully operating in the region, referring to three separate incidents in the last few months where China challenged marine research and energy exploration within the exclusive economic zone claimed by the Philippines in the sea.

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Pak said China’s claims in the waters were “expansive and unlawful” and would “contribute to regional instability, damage the economies of other claimant states, undermine the existing maritime order, and threaten the rights and interests of all nations that rely on or operate in this vital waterway”.

The Chinese foreign ministry responded by describing her comments as a “complete reversal of black and white”.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the ministry, accused the US of “running amok in the South China Sea” and said it was the “real threat” to peace and stability in the region.

“In order to maintain their own hegemony, individual extraterritorial powers have travelled far and wide to increase their investment in military forces in the South China Sea,” Zhao said.

“The South China Sea is not an arena for extraterritorial powers to play games. China and the [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries will further strengthen solidarity and cooperation and jointly resist all kinds of bad acts of mischief and destruction in the South China Sea.”