About $5 trillion of international trade sails the South China Sea every year

China is using a scientific ship to explore the South China Sea in what the United States has called an appalling attempt to exploit the confusion caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

A government ship, the Haiyang Dizhi 8, has sailed to the coast of Borneo after surveying the sea bed off Vietnam. America claims that China is trying to consolidate its disputed claims to sovereignty over the strategic waters.

The incident comes after the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat by a Chinese coastguard vessel near the Paracel Islands, a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. The sinking provoked an angry reaction from Washington, which accused China of exploiting the pandemic.

“It is appalling that [China] is exploiting the world’s focus on addressing