Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Why an Uninvited Chinese Ship Just Visited a Shoal on Malaysia's Continental
Shelf

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - The passage of a Chinese civilian ship across part of
   Malaysia's continental shelf this month shows China aims to bolster its
   claim over a widely contested sea in the face of U.S. opposition,
   observers of the dispute say.

   The Sansha II, a 400-seat transport vessel, parked briefly at James
   Shoal around July 16 and then returned to a base closer to the Chinese
   mainland, according to ship activity maps, a U.S. think tank and a U.S.
   Naval War College researcher. The submerged feature sits at the
   southern boundary of Beijing's claim to the South China Sea and within
   Malaysia's 370-kilometer maritime exclusive economic zone.

   China vies for sovereignty over the sea with Brunei, Malaysia, the
   Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, all of which have weaker militaries
   and less infrastructure on the sea's tiny islets. Claimants prize the
   3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea for fish, energy reserves
   and shipping lanes.

   Southeast Asian countries that dispute China's claims worry that the
   transport could someday ferry supplies to fortify Chinese-controlled
   artificial islands in the sea's Spratly archipelago near James Shoal,
   said Shahriman Lockman, senior foreign policy and security studies
   analyst with the Institute of Strategic and International Studies
   research organization in Kuala Lumpur.

.