James Shoal, a feature that is permanently 22 metres (66 feet) under water in the South China Sea, should not have attracted public attention regionally but for geopolitics and ignorance of international law. Malaysians have been alarmed by recent reports of vessels of the People’s Republic of China Liberation Army (Navy), gathering and celebrating above […]
KUALA LUMPUR: The submerged reef would be easy to miss, under turquoise seas about 80 km (50 miles) off Malaysia’s Borneo island state of Sarawak. But two Chinese naval exercises in less than a year around the James Shoal have shocked Malaysia and led to a significant shift in its approach to China’s claims to […]
Royal Malaysian Navy chief Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar, in comments published by the New Straits Times today, said the Chinese exercise, involving its newly-commissioned aircraft carrier and a submarine, took place 1,000 nautical miles away from Malaysia’s 200 nautical mile economic exlusion zone. “There has been no act of provocation on the part of […]
A Chinese naval task force, including its most modern amphibious ship, a guided-missile destroyer, and two frigates, was recently sighted operating off James Shoal, 50 miles off the coast of Malaysia. James Shoal is claimed by Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as well as Taiwan. The appearance of the Chinese task force in these […]
BEIJING – The appearance of a Chinese navy flotilla at an island chain 1,120 miles from its home shores is a clear sign that the new Communist regime is moving to enforce its claims to the entire South China Sea, experts said Wednesday. James Shoal is 50 miles from the coast of Malaysia, one of […]