China commissions satellite observation centre for S.China Sea

China has commissioned a satellite data receiving station to observe the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing was involved in maritime disputes with a number of South East Asian countries.
The station, in Sanya in China's southern island province of Hainan, was launched by the Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
China will now be able to obtain satellite remote sensing data of the country's southern territorial waters for civil use directly from its ground-based receiving facilities, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The station has two sets of data receiving and transmission systems, getting information from more than 10 satellites, it said.

A research center based at the Sanya station was also launched yesterday, which will conduct scientific research in disaster monitoring, marine sciences and of the environment, it said.
China has launched aggressive patrolling of South China Sea in recent times in the midst of maritime disputes with Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.