China Marine Surveillance

China Marine Surveillance (CMS; ) is the maritime surveillance agency of the People’s Republic of China.

Patrol vessels from China Marine Surveillance are commonly deployed to locations in the South China Sea and East China Sea where China has territorial disputes over islands with its neighbors. The CMS has played a central role in China's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea, encountering opposition from Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam in the disputed territories, as China tries to lock up natural resources to meet its demands as the world’s largest energy consumer.

Organization and function
As a part of the Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of China's China Maritime Safety Administration (or more literally the "China Sea Affairs Bureau"), the CMS has the authority to examine transport safety in sea vessels.

Established 1998, the CMS, charged with the supervisory responsibility for some 3 million square kilometers of Chinese declared territorial waters, employs some 7,000 individuals and operates some 10 aircraft, including at least one Mil Mi-8 helicopter and two Harbin Y-12 utility planes, and 400 seagoing vessels.(Two Harbin Y-12 aircraft seen at Guilin airfield on a number of occasions in August 2013.) It has grown in fleet size and capability. Its fleet is made up of, in part, destroyers and other former Chinese Navy vessels.

In March 2013, China announced it shall modify a unified Coast Guard commanded by the State Oceanic Administration. The move shall merge China Marine Surveillance under the China Coast Guard.


 * Headquarters: Beijing.
 * North China Sea Fleet. Qingdao, Shandong.
 * East China Sea Fleet. Pudong, Shanghai.
 * South China Sea Fleet. Guangzhou, Guangdong.

North China Sea Fleet
The North China Sea Fleet is led by both North China Sea Branch, State Oceanic Administration and China Marine Surveillance.

East China Sea Fleet
The East China Sea Fleet is led by both East China Sea Branch, State Oceanic Administration and China Marine Surveillance.

South China Sea Fleet
The South China Sea Fleet is led by both South China Sea Branch, State Oceanic Administration and China Marine Surveillance.

Deployments around Diaoyu Islands
According to the State Oceanic Administration, the following operations in the territorial waters around Diaoyu Islands have been carried out by CMS, which is now known as China Coast Guard.