Malaysia to summon Chinese envoy over jets intrusion

Malaysia’s authorities will difficulty a diplomatic protest in opposition to an “intrusion” by 16 Chinese army plane into its airspace, the overseas minister mentioned.
Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein mentioned late Tuesday that he’ll summon the Chinese ambassador to clarify “this breach of the Malaysian airspace and sovereignty.” Malaysia’s air power mentioned its radar picked up the Chinese plane Monday close to Malaysian-administered Luconia Shoals, a wealthy fishing floor within the disputed South China Sea.
The Chinese planes then moved practically 60 nautical miles (110 kilometers) off the coast of Sarawak on Borneo island.
After makes an attempt to contact the plane failed, the air power despatched its fighter planes to establish them. It mentioned they had been Ilyushin Il-76 and Xian Y-20 strategic transporters, flying at between 23,000-27,000 ft (7,000-8,000 meters) – altitude sometimes utilized by business flights. Malaysia known as the incident a “serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety.”
“Malaysia’s stand is clear – having friendly diplomatic relations with any countries does not mean that we will compromise our national security,” Hishammuddin mentioned in an announcement. He mentioned he’ll relay Malaysia’s severe concern on the matter to his Chinese counterpart.

There was no response from Beijing.
China claims nearly all the South China Sea on historic grounds. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam even have overlapping claims, and tensions have ramped up since China constructed a number of man-made islands and turned them into army outposts.

The strategically necessary space straddles a few of the world’s busiest sea lanes and can be wealthy in fisheries and will maintain underground oil and pure fuel reserves.

Malaysia says Chinese coast guard and navy ships intruded into its waters within the South China Sea 89 occasions between 2016 and 2019. Malaysia has filed six diplomatic protests to China, together with one in 2017 in response to a Chinese observe asserting its declare to the South Luconia Shoals.
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