Taiwan vows to step up patrol in the East China Sea

Associated Press, Taiwan | World | SAT, March 30 2013, 4: 14 PM

Taiwan's President has ordered a new ship for patrol beef in a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea also claimed by China and Japan.

President Ma Ying-jeou Ma on Saturday in the service of the 2,000 tons Xinbei cutter, which is equipped with machine guns and water cannons. The ship will join a fleet of smaller ships to patrol of the Islands, known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan as.

On board the ship from southern Kaohsiung port renewed Ma are calls for parties to negotiate and their claims to the Islands reserved and jointly develop the rich natural resources.

China has so far ignored Programmes offer because it still sees Taiwan as part of its territory more than six decades after they split amid civil war.