A Chinese survey ship locked in a standoff with Vietnamese vessels moved south near Malaysia, shipping data showed on April 16, amid accusations that China is using the pandemic to assert its presence in the South China Sea.
The Haiyang Dizhi 8 was spotted off Vietnam this week, returning after being closely tracked last year in the resource-rich sea, which is a potential global flashpoint as the United States challenges China’s sweeping maritime claims.
The ship appeared to have started a survey 218 miles off the coasts of Brunei and Malaysia on April 16, according to data from Marine Traffic, a website that tracks shipping.
That appeared to be just north of Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), near waters claimed by both Vietnam and Malaysia.
A Malaysian coast guard vessel, the KM Pekan, is shadowing the Chinese ship, according to a Malaysian maritime source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The Haiyang Dizhi 8 had been flanked by as many as seven Chinese coast guard vessels that have since moved away, two sources familiar with the matter said. The Malaysian navy was monitoring the situation, one of the sources said.
The foreign ministries of Malaysia and Brunei didn’t respond to requests for comment. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on April 15 the ship was conducting normal activities.
The U.S. State Department had urged Beijing to focus on combating the pandemic and “stop exploiting the distraction or vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea.”
China’s U-shaped “nine-dash line” on its maps marks a vast expanse of the waters that it claims, including large expanses in the south that are also claimed by Malaysia, Vietnam, and Brunei.
Earlier this year, the Washington think tank Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said China has maintained a near-constant presence in Luconia Shoals, off the coast of Malaysia’s Sarawak state on Borneo.
Last year, at least one China coast guard vessel spent weeks in waters close to an oil rig in a Vietnamese oil block, operated by Russia’s Rosneft, while the Haiyang Dizhi 8 conducted suspected oil exploration surveys in Vietnam’s EEZ.
