KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s maritime authority said Tuesday Chinese Coast Guard vessels escorted about a hundred Chinese fishing trawlers into Malaysia’s territorial waters near Luconia Shoals in the South China Sea last week.

“It is unprecedented. This is the first time,” Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency Director General Admiral Ahmad Puzi Abdul Kahar told reporters of the huge fleet of fishing boats his agency encountered last Thursday.

“That is why we are taking a cautious approach.”

For the first time, the agency shed more details of the incident that was first disclosed by Shahidan Kassim, minister in charge of national security last Thursday.
Puzi showed a map that indicated the Chinese boats were within Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone and they were discovered conducting their activities from Thursday through Sunday with the number of boats ranging from 40 to 100.

The boats were spread out within 1,931-square-kilometer area.
He said the fishing boats did not bear any flag or registration number but they noticed one Chinese Coast Guard vessel escorting them while another was anchored near Luconia Shoal or known locally as Beting Patinggi Ali.

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