China has asserted its naval power with a new policy paper that describes its plans that could further thwart efforts to peacefully settle the territorial dispute with neighboring Asian countries Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The country expresses in its policy paper entitled "China's Military Strategy" that it fully intends to exert its naval powers in the open ocean in the coming years, which includes defending the country's coastal waters, according to the U.S. Naval Institute's online news and analysis portal.
The policy paper, released by the China State Council, has revealed what its leaders call a "national rejuvenation" by means of China's grand military ambition.
The paper's release comes at a perfect time, as the country continues to enforce its rights on disputed islands in the South China Sea amidst protests from other Asian countries, which had similar claims in the Spratly Islands, The New York Times reported.
The U.S. tried to intervene by monitoring China's military developments. The tension between Beijing and Washington escalated last week, as Chinese navy warned off a U.S. military surveillance plane spotted near Fiery Cross Reef, a contested atoll in the Spratly Islands that has been the site of alleged illegal dredging work in recent months by China.
Beijing-based military analyst Dennis J. Blasko told The New York Times that the paper formally supports China's military transformation that has escalated in recent years.
Blasko noted that although this has been expected, "this is still a new and big statement from China."
Senior Col. Wang Jin said at a news conference Tuesday that "China has made it a strategic goal to become a maritime power," Senior Col. Wang Jin said in a news conference on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. "Therefore needs a strong navy."
China's defense budget grew by 10 percent this year to $141 billion, marking two decades of two-digit growth. The Chinese military navy is investing more to acquire more submarines and warships and is building a second aircraft carrier, Reuters reported.
