PRC research incursions into other nations’ EEZs continue despite international suspicions

FORUM Staff

On June 20, 2023, a state-owned Chinese research vessel intruded into Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea, about 145 nautical miles off Sarawak. The incursion represented the latest apparent violation of international norms, and likely laws, by Chinese survey ships in recent years.

In a proportionate response to the repeated encroachments, the Royal Malaysian Navy deployed a support ship, the Bunga Mas Lima, in late June to head off the intruding ship, the Janes defense intelligence website reported. Automatic identification system (AIS) data tracked the incursion by the 88-meter Chinese vessel, known as the Haiyang Dizhi 8, according to Janes.

Such survey vessel incursions are part of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attempts to assert control over the South China Sea, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) website.

Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei claim parts of the South China Sea off their coasts, while the PRC claims almost the entire area, an assertion that an international tribunal ruled in 2016 is without basis.

The Haiyan Dizhi 8 conducted survey operations in Vietnam’s EEZ in October 2019, off Malaysia in April and May of 2020, and in Indonesia’s EEZ in August through November 2021. During that period, the Chinese vessel Da Yang Hao also intruded into Malaysia’s EEZ. Each incursion was launched in apparent response to new oil and gas activity by the Southeast Asian nations in their territorial waters, AMTI determined in a 2022 analysis of AIS data.

“Such surveys for marine scientific research or oil and gas exploration without permission are illegal under international law; those for purely military research are legal but run counter to China’s stated opposition to foreign military surveys within the EEZ,” according to the AMTI website.

After the 2020 incursion into the Malaysian EEZ, the Royal Malaysian Navy, Royal Australian Navy and the U.S. Navy deployed vessels in response, Janes reported.

Beijing has also conducted dozens of other surveys throughout the South China Sea in recent years that ventured into the EEZs of Southeast Asian nations, according to AMTI. In fact, China’s survey fleet is “the largest and most active in the Indo-Pacific,” AMTI determined. Most Southeast Asian nations only conduct research in their own territorial waters, AMTI said.

“I think it’s a part of an underlying strategy, which is to intimidate and harass all Southeast Asian exploration activity within the nine-dash line and to a point where it becomes economically unviable for foreign companies and even local companies to exploit, aware that China is going to make life that difficult with them,” Euan Graham, senior fellow with the Singapore-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the Voice of America in June 2020 after the PRC sent a survey vessel through waters claimed by Vietnam in an attempt to stop Hanoi from starting new energy exploration projects and filing motions in an international court over its territorial claims against the PRC.

In addition to sending a message to Southeast Asian nations, the surveys provide valuable data for civilian and military purposes, including geologic assessments and detecting submarines. The vessels can also use onboard technologies to gather naval intelligence on foreign military facilities and vessels.

Moreover, Beijing seems to be operating under a double standard. It demands that other nations request permission to conduct military surveys in its EEZ but doesn’t ask permission for its vessels to conduct surveys abroad, AMTI reported.

Beijing further blurs the lines by conducting many of the surveys using civilian vessels. Although the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) operates research ships, it also uses vessels from other government agencies and the commercial sector. This makes its unclear whether a Chinese survey ship operating in another nation’s EEZ without permission is conducting illegal marine research or commercial surveys or undertaking legal military surveillance, the AMTI website explained.

To conduct marine scientific research in another country’s EEZ or continental shelf, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requires governments to seek permission at least six months in advance.

Under UNCLOS, nations are expected to provide consent unless the coastal state suspects the research is actually commercial, involves drilling into the continental shelf, or if the requesting nation supplies inaccurate or misleading information, according to AMTI.

All nations may conduct marine scientific research in international waters.

UNCLOS does not address naval research and surveillance. Most nations, including the U.S., contend that no laws apply to conducting military surveys within the EEZs of other states.

However, the People’s Republic of China and some other Indo-Pacific nations assert that they possess the right to restrict foreign military activities within their EEZs.

Most countries draw clear distinctions between naval, scientific and commercial ships. Japan, for example, delineates marine scientific vessels and military ones. Besides the PRC and the U.S., Japan is the main country that has operated research vessels in the Indo-Pacific in recent years.