Beijing has accused Malaysia of infringing on its sovereignty after its Southeast Asian neighbour filed an extended shelf claim in the disputed South China Sea. Collin Koh, a research fellow with the Maritime Security Programme at RSIS, said, “Malaysia’s claim would have provoked China’s response anyway, in a manner akin to what happened in 2009,” Koh said, adding that the timing was likely to do with meeting the UN’s Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf requirements rather than aggravating China.