China is ordering newly-built civilian ships to comply with military specifications.
Analysts say the move could help bolster China’s efforts to assert its territorial claims in the disputed East and South China seas and add to ongoing efforts by the Chinese military to extend its naval reach.
Beijing has already expanded its civilian coast guard fleet into the largest in the world, using the unarmed ships to help shore up its claims in disputed waters, according to a U.S. naval intelligence report published earlier this year. This has led analysts to call the fleet “China’s Second Navy.”