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Chinese Coast Guard Ship Spotted Just 50 Nautical Miles from Sarawak’s Coast – Observer

In a post on platform X (@GordionKnotRay), Powell revealed that Chinese Coast Guard vessels routinely breach the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of neighboring countries, conducting patrols that underscore Beijing’s growing assertiveness in contested waters.

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(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) – A Chinese Coast Guard vessel, CCG 5403, has ventured alarmingly close—within just 50 nautical miles—of Sarawak’s coast in Malaysia over the past week, raising concerns about escalating tensions in the region, according to South China Sea observer Ray Powell.
In a post on platform X (@GordionKnotRay), Powell revealed that Chinese Coast Guard vessels routinely breach the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of neighboring countries, conducting patrols that underscore Beijing’s growing assertiveness in contested waters.
According to him, these patrols are “activities aimed at establishing a continuous presence and gradually normalizing Chinese jurisdiction over areas granted to its neighbors under international law.”
“While China Coast Guard 5403 has approached within 50 nautical miles of Malaysia’s coast over the past week, CCG 5305 moved north from Malaysia’s EEZ on January 31 and entered Vietnam’s EEZ,” Powell wrote.
“Since then, it has pushed further into Vietnam’s offshore oil and gas fields near Vanguard Bank,” he added.
Powell did not mention whether Malaysian patrol vessels were present near the Chinese Coast Guard ships. However, it is common practice for vessels from the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) to be in close proximity, shadowing Chinese enforcement ships during such activities.
Ray Powell
(kredit Ray Powell)
Powell, a former U.S. Air Force colonel, currently leads the Project Myoushu at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, Stanford University.
Ship tracking data indicates that CCG 5403 is believed to be operating near the Kasawari gas development project, managed by Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, Petronas, within Block SK316, which is clearly located inside Malaysia’s EEZ.
The Kasawari Gas Field is being developed and operated by Petronas Carigali, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petronas.
The project is estimated to be worth billions of ringgit.
Discovered in November 2011, the Kasawari Gas Field in Block SK316, offshore Sarawak in the South China Sea, is estimated to contain around 3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of recoverable natural gas reserves, which can be extracted, processed, and commercialized.
The discovery of Kasawari further strengthens Malaysia’s position as one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Kasawari
Petronas’s Kasawari Mega Gas Field
This mega gas field is expected to produce up to 900 million cubic feet of gas per day and around 3.5 million barrels of condensate daily.
The extracted gas will be transported via pipeline to be processed at the Petronas LNG Complex in Bintulu, Sarawak.
The Petronas LNG Complex consists of nine production trains with a total annual capacity of 29.3 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), making it one of the largest LNG production facilities in the world.
The Kasawari Gas Field is located in the South China Sea, offshore Sarawak, Malaysia. Situated in waters with depths of up to 108 meters, it lies within Block SK316, approximately 200 km north of Bintulu, Sarawak.
This mega gas field is positioned within the Beting Patinggi Ali reef cluster, an area frequently visited by Chinese Coast Guard vessels.
According to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), in 2022 alone, Chinese Coast Guard vessels spent 316 out of 365 days patrolling the waters around the Beting Patinggi Ali area.
— DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA

1 Comment
  1. Kumario says

    Greed…I rest my case.

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