In a bid to expand its maritime power, China has armed its newest Coast Guard ship with sophisticated weaponry with the disputed South China Sea in mind, according to state-run military newspaper, the Global Times.

Beijing has reportedly equipped the ship with 76-millimeter rapid fire guns, auxiliary guns, and anti-aircraft machine guns, which, military observers said, has raised serious concerns from countries which have overlapping claims with Beijing in the international waterway.

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The Global Times said upon completion of the ship, it will most likely be deployed to the hotly contested South China Sea region.

                                            Japanese-controlled islands

Defense and military analysts say China's arming of its Coast Guard ship reveals its intentions to build up its maritime capacity in order to exploit maritime resources.

Beijing reportedly deployed a similar ship near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku/ Diaoyu island group in the East China Sea in December 2015, raising the already heightened tensions between the two countries.

Japan has protested the territorial incursions of the Beijing ship in its controlled islands and demanded that China ceases all activities in the area.

The Beijing Coast Guard ship is reportedly equipped with 'four gun turrets.'

                                           China Coast Guard ships

Analysts said the incident was a flagrant attempt of Beijing to reinforce its claims over the disputed islands group by conducting increased military activities in the area.

However, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said that the Chinese Coast Guard ship that sailed into the Japan-controlled islands was a 'standard' ship and was not armed with weaponry.

Analysts have predicted that more armed Chinese Coast Guard ships will continue to sail through disputed waters in the future despite protests from claimant-countries.

                                           Newer, larger vessels

"In the foreseeable future, more and more of the China Coast Guard ships entering waters off the isles, or even engaging in standoffs with Japanese Coast Guard, will be newer, larger and armed vessels," said  Colin Ko Swee Lean, a fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Reports indicate that China's deployment of the ship to the East China Sea in December was a way to prevent Japan from poking its nose in the raging South China Sea issue

"China doesn't want Japan to meddle in the South China Sea," said the analysts.

                                            Rapid construction

In 2015, reports surfaced that China was conducting full-blown construction of Chinese Coast Guard ships, alarming countries over its rapid military buildup.

The US Office of Naval Intelligence released a 2015 report detailing Beijing's rapid expansion of its naval power. It  said that China's Coast Guard ships and law enforcement fleet is larger than the combined naval fleet of the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

TagsCoast Guard ships, Beijing, Japan, sophisticated weaponry, four gun turrets