It will also build four cruise liner docks in Sanya, a Chinese resort city on the southern island province of Hainan, the paper added.
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Group and China Communications Construction, will buy between five and eight ships, the official China Daily reported.
All along, China has contended that the islands of the South China Sea have been part of Chinese territory since ancient times and also that China reserves the right to set up air Defense (ADIZ) or “no fly” zones in the region to protect national security.
Liu Junli, chairman of Sanya International Cruise, said the company is already operating the “Dream of the South China Sea” cruise ship and plans to add another two cruise ships by next summer, the report said.
Perhaps most centrally, the Court concluded that China’s “9-dash line”, which Beijing regularly references with regard to its claims in the South China Sea, does not grant it historic claims to the resources in those waters.
It is not clear if foreigners will be allowed on these cruises or if they will be allowed to visit China’s holdings in the South China Sea.
Dong Liwan, a shipbuilding industry professor at Shanghai Maritime University, said market promotion of tailor-made services such as island tours, marine tourism, cruise vacations and island-themed honeymoons are certainly needed to develop the travel business in the South China Sea.
China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all have rival claims, of which China’s is the largest.
China defines “relevant and irrelevant parties” to prevent countries “outside the region” like the United States and Japan, as described by Beijing, from interfering in the East Sea issue, he said.
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The recent ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on the Philippines’ s lawsuit against China concerning disputes in the East Sea is of historical significance, a Japanese expert has said.
