Rival South China Sea Monitoring Agencies Debate Whether Chinese Vessels Are Targeting ASEAN-Indian Maritime Exercise

The SCS Probing Initiative is a Chinese-backed data monitoring organization that does similar work as the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University. Image via @GordianKnotRay.

A debate broke out on Twitter on Monday over whether Chinese maritime militia vessels operating in the South China Sea had intentionally changed course in order to shadow the ongoing India-ASEAN joint naval exercises that are now underway there.

Ray Powell, a former U.S. Air Force officer and now Team Lead of the Gordian Knot Center at Stanford University that monitors Chinese maritime activity in the South China Sea, started to post regular updates about an apparent change of course by the vessels.

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by Eric Olander

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