China has commissioned its 31st Type-056 class corvette stealth warship under an aircraft carrier and delivered to the East Sea Fleet in a naval base in East China's Fujian Province.
The warship has a maximum speed of 52 km/h and features good maneuverability, a high-level of automation and stealth capability.
It will perform coastal patrol, fishery escort, anti-submarine and anti-ship operations and is capable of hitting aircraft, ships and submarines.
It was the second ship commissioned to its navy this year. China earlier commissioned CNS Kaiyangxing, an electronic reconnaissance ship, now under the North Sea Fleet.
The Chinese navy has expanded its rapidly expanded its fleet in the past 10 years with the addition of 100 advanced ships and submarines and a large number of new aircraft.
It commissioned around 20 new ships in 2015 as well as last year and is believed to have deployed several new-generation nuclear submarines during this period, state-run China Daily reported.
The navy now has its aircraft carrier Liaoning to head its battle group, with a second carrier being built and plans for a third underway.
China is also building a 175 meter long Type 005 destroyer, said to be armed with electromagnetic railguns that can shoot down missiles and attack land targets. It is supposedly equal to the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The construction began in 2015.
China appears bracing itself for renewed tensions in the South China Sea, with Donald Trump's Secretary of State nominee, Rex Tillerson, saying before a Senate hearing that the United States of America should block China from accessing artificial islands in the South China Sea.
He warned that the U.S. government would send a "clear signal" to China about abandoning the artificial islands in the South China Sea and likened the latter's island-building to "Russia's taking of Crimea."