Malaysia Plans to Buy Ships from China as Beijing Courts Southeast Asia

Forecast International ^ | Nov 08, 2016

[sukhoi-30mki]

Marking a new step in military cooperation between China and Malaysia, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced that his country will be purchasing “at least” four naval ships from China tailored for missions in littoral waters.

The deal will involve Chinese-designed Littoral Mission Ships (LMS), and up to 10 could potentially be produced. Most likely these new ships are scaled-down derivatives of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056A (Jiangdao class) corvette, similar to the type ordered by the Bangladesh Navy, the Durjoy class. Those ships were built by Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Company, part of the larger China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC).

Under the deal, the first two of these new Malaysian Navy ships will be built in China, with the next two built in Malaysia. Any additional ships added via an exercised option would also be built in Malaysia, though these will be subject to government financing resources.

The move by Malaysia to order Chinese naval ships comes as China continues to try to diplomatically move countries in Southeast Asia toward its corner and away from U.S. influence.

Since July, when China’s claims to over 80 percent of the territorial waters in the South China Sea were blocked by an international tribunal at The Hague, Beijing has tried a different tactic, wooing through trade and defense cooperation rather than militarized maritime intimidation and force. Thanks to the election of an impulsive, nationalistic and left-leaning president, the first country to slide over into China’s orbit has been a key one – the Philippines.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Bangladeshi Durjoy

[knarf]

If America had maintained it's WW2 building fervor, we could be supplying the planet, or at least competing with other industrialized nations.

Instead, we can provide faulty financial counseling, McDonald's hamburgers and amusement parks operated by kids that can't speak English

[Jack Hammer]

Looks like the Chinese are promoting a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.