Shahidan Kassim News

About 100 Chinese fishing boats have been detected encroaching in Malaysia's waters in the disputed South China Sea, Malaysia's state news agency and a coastguard official said on Friday. The reported encroachment on Thursday is the latest action by Chinese vessels to raise concern in Southeast Asia, where four countries object to China's claim to virtually the whole of the South China Sea. Malaysia's national security minister Shahidan Kassim said assets from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the navy have been sent to the area near the Luconia Shoals to monitor the situation, the Bernama news agency reported. Shahidan did…

Malaysia has said that more than 100 Chinese fishing boats have been spotted within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) off Sarawak in the latest incident involving Chinese vessels in the disputed waters. The boats were sighted near Beting Patinggi Ali, also known as Luconia Shoals, about 100km off the coast of Miri in Sarawak. Malaysia planned to take action against them. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim said the government has instructed the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) to deploy its assets to monitor the situation. "Three MMEA vessels have been deployed to the area. The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) assets are also there.

The Malaysian-registered vessel MT Orkim Harmony carrying 6,000 metric tonnes of RON95 petrol went missing in the South China Sea near Johor on Thursday (June 11). The tanker was sailing from Malacca to Kuantan Port. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has expressed his concern over the fate of MT Orkim Harmony and said that his government will deploy its resources to locate the missing oil tanker off Johor. "I am distressed by the news of a missing Malaysian-owned tanker. I pray for the safety of the 22-strong crew, 16 of who are Malaysians. My thoughts are with their families. The government will deploy our resources to locate it," the Prime Minister said.

The overlapping territorial disputes in the South China Sea involve China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam have recently been moving from bad to worse. Vietnam is seeking to upgrade its air defences by acquiring western fighter jets and drones, a move which would further militarize a dispute with Beijing over territorial claims in the South China Sea. Taiwan's coast guard has commissioned its biggest ships for duty in the form of two 3,000-ton patrol vessels, as the island boosts defenses amid concerns about China's growing footprint in the disputed South China Sea, says a report in the Reuters. The new vessels will be able to dock at a new port being constructed on Taiping Island…