Chinese President Xi Jinping has stressed what he called the urgent need to have a powerful navy.
He was speaking on Thursday during an inspection of China's largest maritime drill in the South China Sea.
48 warships, 76 aircraft and more than 10-thousand personnel took part in the drill.
It was held after Beijing lodged numerous protests against Washington for conducting so-called "freedom of navigation" operations with U.S. warships sailing near artificial islands built by China.