China launches new electronic intelligence naval ship

China's Navy has launched a new electronic reconnaissance ship, state media said on Thursday.

News ID: 71527

Date: 12 January 2017 - 11:53

According to MANA, The new electronic reconnaissance ship, the CNS Kaiyangxing or Mizar, with hull code 856, was on Tuesday delivered to a combat support flotilla of the North Sea Fleet at the eastern port of Qingdao, the China Daily said.

"The Kaiyangxing is capable of conducting all-weather, round-the-clock reconnaissance on multiple and different targets," the newspaper said, citing Chinese defense media as comparing it to sophisticated vessels only produced by countries with advanced militaries, such as the United States and Russia.

Regional naval officials say Chinese ships now increasingly track and shadow U.S. and Japanese warships in the South China and East China seas, even during routine deployments.

On Wednesday, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said China should be denied access to islands it has built and placed military assets on in the South China Sea.