Malaysia, China and Vietnam in ‘dangerous, ongoing game of chicken’ in South China Sea

This follows the highly publicised stand-off between Indonesian and Chinese vessels near the Southeast Asian country’s Natuna islands in December.

In a report on its website, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) offered a blow-by-blow account of what it termed “a dangerous, ongoing game of chicken” involving navy vessels, coastguard boats, militia vessels, a drill ship called the West Capella, as well as offshore supply ships that stretches back to October last year.

The West Capella – contracted by the Malaysian state energy firm Petronas – is at the centre of the stand-off.

AMTI, which is affiliated to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it made its findings based on the vessels’ automatic identification system (AIS) broadcasts and commercial satellite imagery.

The three countries have not publicly commented on this stand-off, even though Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah this week said Kuala Lumpur was seeking an agreement with Vietnam to stop “encroachment” of deep-sea fisherman from the Indochinese country into Malaysia’s territorial waters off its east coast.