South China Sea: Chinese coastguard ships, warplanes engaged in ‘parallel escalation’ off Malaysia, US think tank says

Chinese coastguard ships ‘harassed’ Malaysian vessels near the Kasawari gas field last month, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative said in a report
An earlier patrol by 16 Chinese military aircraft, which Malaysia initially said had violated its airspace, was ‘likely not a coincidence’, the report said

South China Sea

Bhavan Jaipragas

Published: 11:11am, 8 Jul 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

A controversial incident that saw 16 Chinese military aircraft near Malaysian air space in late May coincided with similar activity by Chinese coastguard vessels in the area, and may have been part of “parallel escalation” efforts aimed at challenging energy exploration activities in the South China Sea, a US think tank said.

Unreported minor stand-offs between China and Southeast Asian claimant states are continuing, details in the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) report published on Thursday suggested, despite recent moves to hasten the introduction of a code of conduct for the disputed waterway.

Malaysia scrambles jets to intercept ‘incursion’ by 16 Chinese military planes

AMTI, part of the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, closely tracks developments in the South China Sea using data from tracking transponders and satellite images.

This data showed a Chinese coastguard vessel operating near the Kasawari gas field off the coast of Malaysia’s Sarawak state on June 4, it said – soon after a pipe-laying vessel hired by Malaysia had arrived in the area.

Location of the Kasawari and NC3 gas fields off the coast of Malaysia. Image: SCMP

Five days earlier, on May 31, Malaysia scrambled jets to intercept 16 Chinese military transport aircraft on an unannounced patrol that the Royal Malaysian Air Force said had come close to violating the Southeast Asian country’s airspace, putting civilian flights in the area at risk.

The pipe-laying vessel hired by Malaysia was initially shadowed by a smaller Zhaolai-class patrol ship with the bow number 5403, AMTI said, before it was replaced by the CCG 5303, a larger Zhaoduan-class Chinese coastguard cutter.

This second Chinese ship remained in the area even after the Bunga Mas Lima, an auxiliary ship of the Royal Malaysian Navy whose deployment coincided with the arrival of the first pipe-laying vessel, had returned to base on June 13, the report said.

Last week, following the arrival of a second pipe-laying vessel, the CCG 5303 traversed the area in a manner that showed it “clearly” objected to the activity, AMTI said, adding that Chinese coastguard activity appeared to be continuing near the gas field – more than 1,000km off mainland China’s coast – at the time of the report’s publication.

A visualisation showing the route taken by a Chinese coastguard ship past Malaysian vessels near the Kasawari gas field. Image: AMTI/CSIS

The CCG 5303 passed “less than 400 yards (365 metres) from the Sapura 3000, and about 200 yards from one of its offshore supply ships, the Bes Elite,” AMTI said in its report.

“This is at least the third time since last spring that the Chinese coastguard has harassed Malaysian energy exploration … It demonstrates again Beijing’s persistence in challenging its neighbours’ oil and gas activities within their own exclusive economic zones.”

The report said the earlier Chinese air patrol was “likely not a coincidence [and] suggests Beijing’s willingness to engage in parallel escalation to pressure other claimants to back down”.

“While the current tensions are likely to subside once installation of the wellhead is complete, a second phase of work at Kasawari slated for 2022 suggests that friction between Chinese law enforcement and Malaysian offshore energy operations off Sarawak is almost guaranteed to continue,” it added.

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Malaysia to summon Chinese envoy after airspace ‘intrusion’

There has been no public display of diplomatic friction between the two countries since Malaysia’s June 1 protest over the controversial Chinese air patrol, which Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein initially said had violated “Malaysian airspace and sovereignty” – with China’s ambassador to the country, Ouyang Yujing, being summoned over the matter.

Kuala Lumpur did not issue further comment on the episode and China said the “reported activities” were part of routine flight training that “do not target any country” and abided by international law.

Later in June, Beijing donated 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Malaysia, eliciting words of gratitude from Hishammuddin.

Malaysia has increasingly found itself the subject of stand-offs with China, despite taking a less assertive public stance on its South China Sea claims than the likes of Vietnam and the Philippines.

US military backs Malaysia’s claim of 16 Chinese planes near airspace

In April and May last year, the West Capella oil exploration vessel contracted by Malaysian state energy firm Petronas found itself embroiled in a stand-off with Chinese coastguard vessels – an episode that briefly attracted the attention of other players, with the US and Australia holding military exercises in the area as a show of force to China.

Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei all dispute China’s claim to much of the South China Sea, saying it contravenes their sovereignty and maritime rights as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Indonesia says it is not a party to the dispute – though the northern reaches of its Natuna islands’ exclusive economic zone do overlap with Beijing’s nine-dash line, which demarcates its vast claim to about 90 per cent of the disputed waterway.

Philippines has a secret weapon in South China Sea: the female voice

Singapore, a non-claimant state, this week said it had no objections to the May 31 Chinese air patrol, which had briefly involved overflight in a flight information region administered by the city state.

Responding to parliamentary questions on the episode, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said state aircraft were not obliged to file their flight plans in advance “so long as they fly with due regard for the safety of other aircraft”.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: report hints at china ‘parallel escalation’ bid