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Malaysia stands firm in defending territorial waters

Joseph Hammond

Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said he remains committed to ensuring a free and open South China Sea amid threats from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to his country’s fisheries and other natural resources.

“The reality is that as small nations, we must coalesce with those who share similar values that would be able to defend and promote ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] centrality, the region’s interest and with external parties,” Yassin, pictured, said during the 37th ASEAN Summit in November 2020. The announcement came after Malaysia for several months had quietly tried to increase its defense capabilities and reassert its sovereign rights.

Adib Zalkapli, a director at the strategic consultancy BowerGroupAsia, told FORUM that Yassin’s statements vocalized long-standing policy. “This has always been Malaysia’s strategy from Day One: to work with like-minded regional allies. Similar strategy, different challenges.”

The challenges have been mounting. Malaysia detained 60 Chinese nationals and six fishing vessels in October 2020 for trespassing within its national waters, Reuters reported. Malaysia’s latest defense white paper revealed that such illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing costs its economy nearly U.S. $1.5 billion annually.

In April 2020, Malaysian forces confronted a Chinese oil exploration vessel infringing upon its waters and were quickly supported by Australian and United States naval vessels. Washington is also helping in other ways, providing Malaysia with six ScanEagle surveillance drones in May 2020 and converting a pair of U.S. transport planes into maritime surveillance aircraft.

Concerns over IUU fishing and illegal mineral exploration in Malaysian territory prompted a July 2020 letter from Yassin’s administration to the United Nations stating that Beijing has no legal basis for its maritime claims in the South China Sea, reported The Nikkei newspaper. In his ASEAN summit remarks, Yassin referenced the applicability of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. “As a coastal state, it is a matter of great significance that our maritime area is safe for international trade to prosper,” he said.

Experts say Yassin’s comments reflect threats posed by PRC involvement in his country’s affairs. A report from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, “Below the Belt and Road: Corruption and Illicit Dealings in China’s Global Infrastructure,” shows that the PRC has used its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) infrastructure program to engage in corruption in Malaysia and elsewhere.

Elaine K. Dezenski, the report’s author and former head of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative, cited problems associated with the East Coast Rail Link, Malaysia’s flagship section of the Pan-Asian Railway Network. The U.S. $16 billion OBOR project, negotiated under a previous Malaysian government, was nearly canceled when costs ballooned to almost U.S. $20 billion.

Joseph Hammond is a FORUM contributor who reports from the Indo-Pacific region.

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