Malaysia is expanding oil and gas exploration in the disputed South China Sea despite pressure from Chinese vessels that have maintained a constant presence in waters where both sides have overlapping claims, according to a new report.
Short-range coastal tracking data show that China’s coast guard ships operated in waters claimed by Malaysia “like clockwork,” with at least one of its vessels stationed in Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone or continental shelf area nearly every day of the year, according to the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.
The study comes after the leak of a diplomatic letter weeks ago in which Beijing privately urged Malaysia to halt its offshore oil and gas activities near Luconia Shoals, prompting a rare public acknowledgment of the long-running dispute from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim just as his government seeks to foster deeper economic links with China.
Stretching from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan down to Malaysia and Indonesia, the South China Sea is a critical artery for global trade, including about 37 percent of the world’s maritime crude. China has laid claim to a vast swath of the waters, based on a vague 1940s map that has broadly been rejected by other nations and a UN tribunal.
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