China's Xi presides over large-scale naval display in South China Sea

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a speech at an annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia in Boao, in the southern Chinese province of Hainan, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 10, 2018. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

BEIJING (Reuters) - President Xi Jinping presided over the Chinese navy's largest-ever military display on Thursday, state media reported, the country's latest show of force in the disputed South China Sea.

State broadcaster China Central Television showed footage of Xi boarding the destroyer Changsha before sailing to an unspecified location in the South China Sea and watching the procession, which involved more than 10,000 naval officers, 76 fighter jets, and a flotilla of 48 warships and submarines.