Beijing offers funds in search for MH370 jet

There are a number of reasons to think the search for missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 may be taking a turn for the better.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has proposed the integration of the “One Belt and One Road” initiative with the regional strategic plans of ASEAN countries.

For economic cooperation, China and ASEAN sealed a deal to upgrade their free trade area.

Li made the announcement during a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on the sidelines of the leaders’ summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Kuala Lumpur, according to Xinhua. The change in search area comes as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China would provide Australia with $20 million of additional search funds.

China, he said, also stands ready to join hands with India to beef up cooperation in trade and investment, infrastructure construction and financial services, and broaden people-to- people exchanges, so as to further consolidate public support for bilateral relations.

Costly search… The mission to find MH370 has not been smooth sailing.

“Nevertheless, we will certainly persevere with this search”, said Liow.

He said it was not clear if the contribution would be in the form of “cash” or a search boat.

But searchers do not accept a key aspect of Hardy’s conclusion: that whoever was flying the plane made a controlled landing at sea, which allowed it to sink largely intact.

“It does not involve an extension of the search area or a change in the approach to the search”.

The Australian, Malaysian and Chinese Governments have previously agreed not to extend the search without new evidence or information about MH370’s whereabouts. The March 2014 disappearance of MH370 while en-route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 passengers and crew has been puzzling the world’s aviation industry ever since. It is believed to have “ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean”.

The Malaysian government confirmed in August that an aircraft flaperon found on La Reunion in the Indian Ocean belonged to the flight.