Its minister Khaled Nordin said this was to verify if the foreign vessel was anchored there or just passing through.

“Patrols are regularly conducted by the navy and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. The waters of the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea are free-flow waters. It is a threat to our sovereignty if any foreign ship anchors there.”

“If it was just passing through, then we cannot do anything as that is not a breach of international maritime law,” he told reporters after opening the Gombak Umno delegates meeting here.

He said this when asked to comment on a report by a portal which claimed that fishermen in Miri were intimidated by the presence of the China coast guard ship and it hampered them from going out to sea.

Before this, the government insisted that Beting Patinggi Ali belonged to Malaysia and had never recognised any claim from any other nation since it is within Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone.

Beting Patinggi Ali is 84 nautical miles (155km) from the coast of Miri (specifically in Tanjung Baram), Sarawak.