Beijing: In a broadening campaign to enforce its territorial claims, China says it`s beefing up its police powers in the disputed South China Sea and requiring foreign fishermen to ask Beijing`s permission to operate within most of the vast, strategic waterway.

The move, which took effect this month, comes on the heels of the late November announcement of a new air defense zone requiring foreign planes to notify Beijing of flights over a huge swath of the East China Sea, where China is locked in a bitter territorial dispute with Japan.

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The steps are prompting concerns that President Xi Jinping`s push to assert China`s role as a regional power could spark a confrontation with neighbors. "These sort of assertions of sovereignty, or territorial claims, will continue. Xi believes he can`t afford to be seen as soft," said City University of Hong Kong China politics expert Joseph Cheng.

The affected waters account for 2 million of the South China Sea`s 3.5 million square kilometers (1.35 million square miles), a sweeping area encompassing island groups claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and others and in some cases occupied by their armed forces.

The islands sit amid the world`s busiest commercial sea lanes, along with rich fishing grounds and potential oil and gas deposits.

Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said today that the country`s diplomats were seeking more information on the new South China Sea rules. There was no immediate response from Vietnam. The United States says it doesn`t take sides in the sovereignty dispute but insists on the right to freedom of navigation in the area.

The new rules demand that foreign vessels seek permission to fish or survey within waters administered by Hainan, China`s southernmost island province, which looks out over the South China Sea.

Authorities in the provincial city of Sansha, on an island far south of Hainan, held a joint drill Jan. 1 involving 14 ships and 190 personnel from various border patrol and law enforcement agencies.
"Rampant infringement by foreign fishing vessels" was among the activities targeted in the practice scenarios, law enforcement official Wang Shizhen was quoted as saying by the official China News Service. Passed by Hainan`s provincial legislature in late November, the new rules say only that permission must be obtained from unnamed "relevant departments" under China`s Cabinet. Chinese law allows for the confiscation of catches and fishing equipment and fines of up to 500,000 yuan (USD 83,000) for violators.