The Japan Coast Guard on Friday concluded safety drills to coach its Malaysian counterpart on repel international intruders within the disputed South China Sea the place Beijing has grown more and more assertive in opposition to different claimant states. They’re an improve from the units utilized in Malaysia. Lengthy-range acoustic units are specialised loudspeakers that may produce sounds at excessive energy to speak throughout huge distances. The Japanese authorities contributed 4 of the sound cannons to Malaysia. The units can be mounted on maritime company’s offshore patrol boats

“The drill was carried out to coach the officers and members on use the system and in addition to check its effectiveness in opposition to international ships, particularly those that intrude into the nation’s waters. It’s for use to push back intruder ships that refuse to cooperate or those which might be appearing aggressively towards us,” Saiful Lizan Ibrahim, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Company’s deputy director of logistics mentioned in an announcement.

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Chinese language coast guard and navy ships intruded into Malaysian waters within the South China Sea 89 occasions between 2016 and 2019. These ships remained within the area till they had been turned away by the Malaysian navy. Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia have accused China of disrupting their oil and fuel exploration actions with frequent incursions by Chinese language coast guard and maritime militia ships, resulting in confrontations and incidents. Like with Malaysia, Japan can be enhancing ties with South China Sea claimants, the Philippines and Indonesia. Not like Malaysia, Japan just isn’t a direct social gathering to the South China Sea dispute with China, however is an stakeholder.

Japan is locked in its personal dispute with China within the East China Sea, notably over the Senkaku Islands. As for the South China Sea, Beijing claims nearly all of it, together with waters inside the unique financial zones of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. Whereas Indonesia doesn’t regard itself as a celebration to the dispute, Beijing claims historic rights to components of the ocean overlapping Indonesia’s EEZ as nicely. In the meantime, Beijing has ignored a 2016 worldwide arbitration courtroom ruling gained by Manila that invalidated China’s huge claims within the South China Sea.