100 Chinese boats enter into Malaysian water

Malaysia’s national security minister Shahidan Kassim said assets from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the navy had been sent to the area the near of Chinese vessels had been spotted.

The Malaysia’s state news agency reports that around 100 Chinese boats have been detected intruding Malaysia’s waters in the South China Sea.

At a regular briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei, asked about the Malaysian report and he said he did not “understand the details” of what the Malaysian Government had said about the matter.

“What I want to point out is that now is the fishing season in the South China Sea … At this time of year, every year, Chinese trawlers are in the relevant waters carrying out normal fishing activities,” Mr Hong said .

The Bernama news agency also reports that Malaysia’s national security minister Shahidan Kassim said assets from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the navy had been sent to the area near the Luconia Shoals to monitor the situation although Mr Shahidan did not specify what type of Chinese vessels had been spotted.

Yesterday, in response to a deal between the US and the Philippines, which allows Washington to have military presence at five bases in the Asian state, China deployed YJ-62 anti-ship missiles to the Woody Island of the South China Sea.

However, the South China Sea has become a place of tension between the Chinese and the west.  Several analysts suggested that the US has been backing and influencing the Chinese neighbors to stand against China in order to implement the US policy to contain China.

Every year $6.4 trillion of trade passes through the South China Sea, $1.2 trillion is U.S. trade. And more than half of the world’s annual merchant fleet tonnage and a third of all maritime traffic worldwide travel through Chinese waters.