Malaysia detains Chinese vessels for unauthorized entry into territorial waters as Japan warns the same

10/12/2020 Malaysia



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According to a statement, 60 Chinese nationals were detained during an operation off the east coast of Johor, the southern Malaysian state that borders Singapore. Their vessels, all registered in Qinhuangdao, a port in northern China, were heading to Mauritania, West Africa, when they invaded Malaysian waters, the country’s maritime authorities said.

Malaysia reported 89 intrusions by Chinese coastguard and navy ships between 2016 and 2019, while tensions between the United States and China continue to rise over Beijing’s claims over most of the resource-rich South China Sea, which is also an important trade route.

The arrests in Malaysia coincide with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s tour of Southeast Asian nations. The four-day trip, which includes stops in Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Thailand and Singapore, aims to help strengthen regional ties amid mounting pressure from Washington and the continuing fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
China’s Ministry of Commerce said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have become each other’s largest trading partners, with total trade from January to August reaching $ 416.5 billion, according to media. Chinese state.

But tensions between the Southeast Asian bloc of nations and China continue due to aggressive movements by Beijing along the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea, almost all of which is claimed by China.

In recent years, despite objections from its neighbors and a ruling by an international court, Beijing has militarized islands and reefs across the sea and stepped up patrols in the region, as the Chinese fishing fleet expands into outside, often invading the territorial waters of other countries. .

While Washington has long opposed Beijing’s actions, the United States stepped up its challenges this year: formally rejected China’s claims as illegal and sanctioned dozens of Chinese companies for building the artificial islands. In July, two US Navy carriers conducted joint military drills at sea for the first time in six years, a strong show of force.

The United States has also increased engagement with the Quad, an alliance with Australia, Japan and India that some see as a kind of Asia North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), much to Beijing’s chagrin. Speaking last week, a US State Department official said that a “sudden turn toward serious aggression by the Chinese government throughout its periphery” has increased the willingness of Beijing’s neighbors to back down, and has made “the Quad really matters and works this time.”

Competing claims in the East China Sea

Chinese maritime expansion is not just happening in the South China Sea. On Monday, the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) said two Chinese ships entered what Tokyo considers its territorial waters near Senkakus, a disputed set of islands in the East China Sea known as Diaoyus in China.

The two Chinese Coast Guard patrol boats have been in the area since Sunday, Japanese authorities said, and have tried to approach Japanese fishing boats in the area to leave what China considers its territorial waters.

Japan, which recently increased its defense budget to the highest amount in history, has complained of “relentless” intrusions into the waters around the Senkakus, encompassing rich fishing grounds and potential deposits of oil and natural gas. This is the eighteenth time in 22 days that Chinese ships have entered Japanese waters, JCG said.

Additional information provided by CNN’s Yoko Wakatsuki, Jessie Yeung and Reuters.

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