An underwater observation network planned as the first project of its kind in the South China Sea will reassert Beijing’s sovereignty over the disputed body of water while offering the country information valuable for oil exploration, mineral searches and possible military uses.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Acoustics and Tongji University in Shanghai will build a “long-term observation network” covering the South China and East China seas, the state-controlled Global Times online reported this week. The institute could not be reached for comment this week.

The government’s China Oceanic Information Network cited an academy scholar on its website Saturday saying the platform would provide real time seabed information as well as explore its chemistry, physics and biology “for the comprehensive needs of multiple applications.”

… “It’s a way for them to extend their control and to prove their authority over that area,” said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He expects protests from other countries.

“If you’re looking at Southeast Asian claimants, I think what we can expect will be diplomatic representations,” he said. “For example you’ll have a foreign ministry come up with a statement (to) criticize the move.”