BEIJING: China is extremely critical about Malaysia's leadership of the search and what it regards as delayed release of information by Kuala Lumpur. "Malaysia invited India for the search and rescue operations in the western part of the sea. We contacted the Indian side and confirmed it with them. We appreciate their efforts in search and rescue," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a media briefing here on Saturday.
Eight Chinese vessels, three aircraft and five helicopters all focused their efforts on the South China Sea based on data on March 8, Hong said.
The official news agency, Xinhua, criticized Malaysia for suppressing crucial facts and delayed release of information.
"At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak revealed a trove of new information that virtually made the massive rummage in South China Sea for the Boeing 777 aircraft and the 239 people on board a huge waste of valuable time and resources," it said in a commentary.
The Xinhua commentary comes a day after the People's Liberation Army criticized Malaysian navy for mismanaging the search operations by providing false leads and inviting navies of too many countries causing overcrowding in the South China Sea.
"And due to the absence -- or at least lack -- of timely authoritative information, massive efforts have been squandered, and numerous rumours have been spawned, repeatedly racking the nerves of the awaiting families," Xinhua said.
"Given today's technology, the delay smacks of either dereliction of duty or reluctance to share information in a full and timely manner," it said.
No comments:
Post a Comment