Beijing [China]: Two weeks after the Malaysian Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador to the country against the presence of China’s vessel in its waters, Beijing’s survey ship has now left Malaysian waters, a media report said. On Monday, ship tracking data showed the 4,600-ton Chinese vessel Da Yang Hao is now on its way northward, more than 200 nautical miles west of the Philippines, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA). Sharihman Lockman, a senior analyst at Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), said that it is “hard to have any certainty” as to China’s decision-making. Stressing that Da Yang Hao was “obviously there as a form of protest against Malaysia’s oil and gas” activities, Lockman said that China has probably calculated that they have made their point and left. Da Yang Hao, since late September, was operating in an area that runs through the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of three countries: Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. And at one point, the vessel was only 40 nautical miles from the Philippines’ Balabac Island and 60 nautical miles from Malaysia’s coast, said RFA. Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 4 said that it had summoned Chinese Ambassador Ouyang Yujing to protest against the “presence and activities” of Chinese vessels in Malaysian waters. In an attempt to protest against the “presence and activities” of Beijing’s vessels in its waters, Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 4 said that it summoned China’s Ambassador Ouyang Yujing. Da Yang Hao was among the vessels. The ship — which first appeared in the area around September 25-26 — was running back and forth off the coasts of the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. Malaysia has termed the Chinese activity “inconsistent with Malaysia’s Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1984, as well as the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)”, according to RFA.
