China has nearly finished a giant coast guard ship and will probably deploy it armed with machine guns and shells in the disputed South China Sea, the Global Times reported, dubbing the vessel "The Beast."
China Coast Guard vessel 3901, with a 12,000 ton displacement, will carry 76 mm rapid-fire guns, two auxiliary guns and two anti-aircraft machine guns, the paper reported, citing unidentified people and photos posted on the Internet.
It will be the second of China's mega-cutters that are the largest in the world, according to the Global Times. A similar boat entered service last year in the East China Sea, where China is separately involved in a territorial dispute with Japan over the Senkaku Islands, which are known in China as the Diaoyu.