AKIPRESS.COM - The Chinese government has approved a plan requiring civilian shipbuilders to ensure that new ships can be used by the military during an emergency, a state-run newspaper said on Thursday.

The plan will "enable China to convert the considerable potential of its civilian fleet into military strength", said the China Classification Society, a shipping industry association, reported the official China Daily.

It will also improve the People's Liberation Army's "strategic projection and maritime support capabilities", the report added.

"Modern naval warfare often requires the mobilization and deployment of a large number of ships while the mass production of naval ships in peacetime is not economically sensible," said Cao Weidong, a researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute in the newspaper, reports Reuters.

"Therefore, it is a common practice that shipbuilders reserve some military application platforms on their civilian vessels so they can serve the navy in wartime."

The Technical Standards for New Civilian Ships to Implement National Defense Requirements is the result of a five-year research project by the shipping body and the military, the paper said. It includes five types of ship - container, roll-on/roll-off, multipurpose, bulk carrier and break bulk, the paper said.

China has overlapping claims with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.