Experts say that China is using its fishing fleet to press its expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea, which is leading to rising tensions with its neighbors, reports NDTV.com.

In the past few weeks there has been tension with Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam as Chinese fishermen, often backed up by coast guard vessels, have ventured close to other nations’ coasts.

These are just the latest conflicts in China’s long-running battle to expand its fishing grounds and simultaneously exert its maritime dominance.

“The Chinese authorities consider fishermen and fishing vessels important tools in expanding China’s presence and the country’s claims in the disputed waters,” said Zhang Hongzhou, an expert at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.