South China Sea: Chinese coastguard ships, warplanes engaged in ‘parallel escalation’ off Malaysia, US think tank says

A controversial incident that saw 16 Chinese military aircraft near Malaysian air space in late May coincided with similar activity by Chinese coastguard vessels in the area, and may have been part of “parallel escalation” efforts aimed at challenging energy exploration activities in the South China Sea, a US think tank said.Unreported minor stand-offs between China and Southeast Asian claimant states are continuing, details in the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) report published…