China launched a rocket carrying a Haiyang-2 (Ocean-2) maritime satellite early on Tuesday, the Xinhua agency said.

The Long March-4B rocket carrying orbiter Haiyang-2 lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province.

The satellite was developed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST).

"The Haiyang-2 satellite is for the supervision and survey of maritime environment, an important measure for prevention and reduction of maritime disasters," Xinhua said.

Using the space remote-sensing technology to monitor China's 3 million square kilometers of sea area is very important and necessary for safeguarding the ocean rights and interests of China, CAST said.

This was the 144th launch of Chinese Long March rockets.