China's maritime authority has launched its first patrols to some of the country's farthest territories, to better monitor and coordinate transportation and rescue.

The maritime authority has spent years to improve its capability to patrol in remote areas.

(CCTV 10-15-2008)--China's maritime authority has launched its first patrols to some of the country's farthest territories, to better monitor and coordinate transportation and rescue.

China's massive water territory covers over 4 million square kilometers. Thousands of vessels travel on it every day. Keeping maritime traffic under control is demanding and crucial.

Until now, the national maritime authority wasn't able to patrol the remote territories. For the most part, patrolling was limited to nearer and heavy-used areas, and was subject to weather conditions.

Song Zhen, traffic director of China Maritime Authority said, "In the past, our patrolling was limited to areas like the Yangtze River's entry point into the East Sea, because we didn't have equipment and technology to travel further."

The maritime authority has spent years to improve its capability to patrol in remote areas.

Now, this state-of-the-art ship extends the maritime monitoring network to faraway areas like the South China Sea and Chuixiao Oil and Gas Field in the East Sea.

The ship can travel tens of thousand sea miles without stopping for supplies.

This is just the authority's first step.

Song Zhen said, "In the future we will make the patrolling a routine and establish a monitoring network of satellites, aircraft, vessels and docks."

The first mission will cover an area between Sanya in the southernmost province of Hainan and the northern part of the South China Sea.