At this point, it has been two weeks since the Chinese research vessel, Haiyang Dizhi 8, is in the waters of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Malaysia near Beting Patinggi Ali (Luconia Shoals), believed to be conducting seabed research in the area waters belonging to Malaysia that are rich in oil and gas treasures.
According to international researcher Raymond Powell, the Chinese research vessel was once detected at its closest position of about 100 nautical miles from the coast of Malaysia.
“The Chinese survey vessel, Haiyang Dizhi 8, is still under the control of the country’s coast guard vessel, CCG 5202, since it entered Malaysia’s EEZ on June 21.”
“The Chinese ship is now being shadowed by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) patrol ship KD Kelantan,” said Powell Powell via a tweet on his Twitter account at @GordionKnotRay.
Ray, a former US Air Force colonel is the head of the Myoushu Project at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.
Although it has been two weeks in Malaysia’s EEZ waters conducting seabed scientific studies, there has been no specific comment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Defence regarding the presence of the Chinese ship “Haiyang Dizhi 8” until now.
The Chinese research vessel, Haiyang Dizhi 8, which once triggered a similar incident in Malaysia’s EEZ waters three years ago.
The Haiyang Dizhi 8 research vessel is believed to be targeting areas of Malaysian EEZ waters rich in oil and gas resources and housing oil and gas exploration activities involving Petronas and its business partners.
Three years ago, the Chinese research vessel was spotted operating in waters close to the activities of the ultra drillship, West Capella contracted by Petronas to carry out drilling works.
The presence of the Haiyang Dizhi 8 ship in the waters of the Malaysian EEZ in April 2020 was also strictly controlled by several coast guard ships and the Chinese maritime militia, just like what is happening now.
On 27 June last, Defense Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the areas of state-owned EEZ waters off the coast of Sarawak such as around Beting Patinggi Ali (Luconia Shoals) and Beting Raja Jarom (Luconia Breaker) which are rich in oil and gas resources will be defended “at any cost” (any way).
According to him, the country’s EEZ waters off the coast of Sarawak houses the Kasawari Gas Field in Block SK316 which is being developed by the national oil and gas company, PETRONAS.
The Kasawari (Gas Field) and Beting Raja Jarom areas are within our EEZ area which has been stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”
“Considering the areas such as (Gas Field) Kasawari and Beting Patinggi Ali are areas that provide income to the country of almost 25 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Malaysia, where our oil wells are located, where our gas wells are located, then it needs to be defended ‘at any cost’,” said Mohamad Hasan.
The invasion of foreign ships in the country’s EEZ area, said the Minister of Defense, is a very sensitive issue and needs to be managed in the best possible way because “we don’t want incidents that we don’t want to happen.”