A dedicated department has been set up to tackle land and maritime border disputes, the Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The department of boundary and ocean affairs is mainly responsible for land and sea boundary demarcation and management, drafting diplomatic policies, and negotiating joint development at sea, spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular press briefing.

Earlier, those responsibilities were shared by several departments.

According to media reports, Ning Fukui, a senior diplomat specializing in Asian affairs, is head of the department.

The two deputy heads, Wang Zonglai and Ouyang Yujing, are both senior diplomats dealing with boundary affairs from the department of treaty and law. Wang is an expert on international maritime law, while Ouyang has participated in border demarcations and negotiations in recent years.

Because of the country's long boundary and large sea territory, it was necessary to establish a special department, Ma said. It is not clear how many countries have equivalent government agencies.

China shares a land boundary of 22,000 km with 14 countries; and is yet to finalize land demarcation with India and Bhutan.

It has a coastline of 18,000 km and maritime territory of 3 million sq km, which involves disputes with several countries.

The establishment of the department, which reportedly started functioning last month, coincides with escalating rows with Malaysia and the Philippines over some islands in the South China Sea.

In the East China Sea, the country has yet to reach agreement with Japan over joint development in the oil-rich waters.

Ma's announcement came days before the May 13 deadline set by the United Nations for countries to submit claims over extended continental shelves.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a continental shelf of up to 200 nautical miles from the archipelagic baseline automatically belongs to a nation and no proof of claim is required.

States may claim an extended continental shelf of up to 350 nautical miles from the baseline.

Wang Hanling, a maritime affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the new department is vital for clearing the bottleneck in the nation's maritime development.

Except on a short sea border with Vietnam, China has reached no agreement with neighbors on demarcation at sea, Wang said.

One of the symbols of a global power is that it has no, or few, territorial disputes but China has many such disputes, he said. "This has restricted China's development."

Mei Ran, an expert with Peking University, said the new department would help Chinese diplomats better deal with boundary issues, especially when it comes to law and proof study - areas in which China lags behind some neighbors.

Pang Zhongying, an international relations expert at Renmin University of China, said the government, by setting up the department, is sending a signal that it wants to resolve border disputes through peaceful means.

(China Daily May 6, 2009)