Regional tensions are showing as frustration grows over the slow pace of the investigation into Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, missing somewhere in Southeast Asia.  China, Malaysia, and Vietnam are pointing fingers at each other.

Malaysia has openly criticized Vietnam for releasing information and photographs of alleged debris floating on the South China Sea.  The reports turned out to be incorrect, and as the search went into a fifth day, Malaysia’s military finally acknowledged that its radar data showed the Boeing 777-200 veering way off course and basically reversed directions, flying far away from Vietnamese waters.

China at first criticized Malaysia through state-run media.  Early in the drama, the Xinhua News Agency questioned why Malaysia Airlines waited hours to announce that they had lost contact with the flight.  But later the Global Times news site went all in.

“The Malaysian side cannot shirk its responsibilities. Until yesterday, it could not even ensure accurate information about the passengers,” the article said, adding that “the initial response from Malaysia was not swift enough. There are loopholes in the work of Malaysia Airlines and security authorities,” and to make sure China and Chinese passengers’ families “find out the truth of things as soon as possible.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang called on Malaysia to “to speed up and step up search and rescue.”

Back in flight MH370’s scheduled destination of Beijing, the families of the Chinese passengers are angry, berating Malaysia Airline workers at the center set up for people to wait for information.

China deployed has deployed nine ships and four helicopters and has adjusted the commands for as many as 10 satellites in orbit so that they can assist with weather monitoring, communications and other aspects of the search.