China/Malaysia/Philippines/Vietnam: Malaysia Joins Forces with Philippines and Vietnam Against China in Sea Dispute

Mar 1, 2014 | Craig Hill, China Daily Mail
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The submerged reef would be easy to miss, under turquoise seas about 80 km (50 miles) off Malaysia’s Borneo island state of Sarawak.

But two Chinese naval exercises in less than a year around the James Shoal have shocked Malaysia and led to a significant shift in its approach to China‘s claims to the disputed South China Sea, senior diplomats told Reuters. The reef lies outside Malaysia’s territorial waters but inside its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.