China's Chief Justice Zhou Qiang in his work report to the NPC  said on March 13, 2016, that courts across China were working to implement the national strategy of building China into a "maritime power". He said "(We) must resolutely safeguard China's national sovereignty, maritime rights and other core interests. (We) must improve the work of maritime courts and build an international maritime judicial centre." He also said that about 16,000 maritime cases were heard by Chinese courts last year, the most in the world and that China has the largest number of maritime courts globally. Referring to a 2014 case at a southeastern China maritime court involving a collision between a Chinese trawler and a Panama-flagged cargo ship in waters near the islets China disputes with Japan in the East China Sea, he said the case clearly showed China's jurisdiction over the region.