China continued presence in M’sian waters from 2016 to 2019, says audit

CHINESE vessels continued to encroach Malaysian waters between 2016 and 2019, with the Chinese government ignoring repeated protest notes, according to the Auditor-General’s Report Series 3.

The Royal Malaysian Navy had detected a total of 238 incursions into Malaysian waters over the course of 2016 to 2019, with a total of 1,493 ships detected close to Malaysian waters. Aside from the Chinese vessels, which are from the China Coast Guard and the People’s Liberation Army Navy, the remainder of 149 ships are foreign fishermen.

A further breakdown by the National Audit Department showed that the majority of the incursions were actually by the China Coast Guard.

“The audit finds that the purpose of the encroachment is to show Chinese presence with regards to China’s claims on the South China Sea, especially in the Beting Patinggi Ali region,” said the report.

The Royal Malaysian Navy had driven away the encroaching vessels, and contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the situation, which has resulted in six notes of protest being sent to the Chinese government, alongside verbal complaints made at Chinese embassies.

The National Audit Department believes that the issue of Chinese encroachment should be the responsibility of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, rather than the Royal Malaysian Navy.

“The agency should have been at Beting Patinggi Ali on each occasion as enforcement, making it advantageous to the Malaysian government should there be any international claims by the Chinese government.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should have taken more action as well, considering only five notes of protest were issued between 2018 and 2019,” said the report. – July 15, 2020

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