BEIJING: China on Thursday stressed its intention to become a “maritime power” in line with its economic clout, as US President Barack Obama prepares to return to Asia amid regional anxiety at Beijing’s rise.

Against a backdrop of simmering territorial disputes with its neighbors, President Hu Jintao indicated
China would continue to assert its disputed claims to maritime territories as he addressed the ruling Communist Party’s congress.

“We should enhance our capacity for exploiting marine resources, resolutely safeguard China’s maritime rights and interests, and build China into a maritime power,” Hu said in his speech to more than 2,200 delegates in Beijing.

His comments were likely to fuel alarm among China’s neighbors, some of whom have watched warily as Beijing builds up its military amid offshore disputes.

Beijing’s sovereignty row with Tokyo over Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea has chilled relations, while tensions with the Philippines and Vietnam have flared in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Japan urged China to use its sea power peacefully.

“It is not surprising to hear leaders in [China] speak about their intention to engage in maritime activities,” said a foreign ministry spokesman in Tokyo.

“But those activities must be carried out in a peaceful manner based on international law.”

Hu said that China was committed to a peaceful foreign policy but must continue a military build-up that has seen huge sums poured into developing fighting capacities.

Citing “interwoven problems affecting its survival”, he said that China must build a “strong national defense and powerful armed forces that are commensurate with China’s international standing”.

Hu called for China in particular to step up the military’s technological abilities, saying its most important task was to be able to “win a local war in an information age”.

Military analysts said that China’s armed forces are far weaker than those of the United States and will remain so for some time.

But there is concern in Asian countries over Beijing’s military intentions, worries likely to loom in the background of an East Asian summit in Cambodia this month.

The newly re-elected Obama, who has refocused America’s strategic attention on the Pacific in a policy seen by many in China as a challenge, is expected to attend the meeting.

Michael Pillsbury, former head of policy planning for the US Defense Department, told Agence France-Presse he was surprised by Hu’s comments.

“China is entitled to a legitimate military modernization program, but the US and the neighbors still cannot get a straight answer about how large Beijing’s new navy will be,” he said.

“Now President Hu seems to be calling for a major buildup, but again he gives us no details.”
China is developing a wide range of new weapons, putting its first aircraft carrier—a retrofitted hull purchased from the Ukraine nearly a decade ago—into active service in September. It unveiled its second stealth fighter earlier this month.

The 300-meter (990-foot) carrier Liaoning is now preparing for its first take-offs and landing, state press reports said recently.

The party congress meets every five years. This year’s gathering will end with confirmation of a new slate of party and national leaders for the next decade, widely expected to be headed by current Vice President Xi Jinping.

During his speech, Hu also warned that China would “never allow anyone or any force to separate Taiwan from the motherland by any means.”