Malaysia accuses China of ‘breach’ of its airspace

BEIJING: China on Wednesday said its fighter jets didn’t violate Malaysia’s airspace and was exercising freedom of overflight. Malaysia had earlier said it will summon the Chinese ambassador to protest over an intrusion by 16 Chinese military aircraft into its airspace.

On Monday, Malaysia’s armed forces said they had detected “suspicious” activities in the sky over its administered area in the disputed South China Sea.

Malaysia’s air force said it had detected 16 Chinese PLA planes flying within 60 nautical miles off Sarawak state of Malaysian Borneo, calling it a “suspicious” activity over the South China Sea and a “serious threat to national sovereignty and flight safety”, according to a Reuters report.

The Chinese foreign ministry dismissed the allegations. “To my knowledge, it was a routine training conducted by China’s air force over waters to the south of Nansha Islands. It doesn’t target any country,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters.

Xi: China’s global image needs to be ‘reliable’

President Xi Jinping has said China must improve the way it tells its “stories” to the world, urging officials to build an image of the country that is “reliable, admirable and respectable”.

Beijing, Xi said, should be open, confident, humble and expand its circle of friends. He made the remarks on Monday at a study session of the political bureau of the Communist Party of China’s central committee.