Government and Policy

Boundary monuments built on East China Sea

By Zuo Likun (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-02-08 11:57
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Twelve permanent monuments marking China's maritime boundary have been built in the East China Sea, according to a national broadcaster, the China News Agency reported Monday.

Two beacon-style footstones are among the twelve markers which, far from the mainland, have taken five years of charting and building, the China Central Television (CCTV) said.

The monuments help pinpoint the country's seaward-extended territorial sea, the report said.

"The charting and building of the baseline footstones makes definite the sovereignty regions of Chinese territorial seas and help to vindicate our oceanic rights," a naval officer Zhou Xingguo told CCTV.

A baseline is the line from which the seaward limits of a country's territorial sea and certain other maritime zones of jurisdiction are measured, usually within 12 nautical miles (22 km). Normally, a sea baseline follows the low-water line of a coastal nation.