Malaysia won’t halt South China Sea exploration despite CCP protests, leader says
Malaysia will not stop its oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea despite Beijing’s unfounded claims that the Southeast Asian nation was infringing on its territory.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the explorations are within the nation’s territory and not intended to be provocative or hostile.
“Of course, we will have to operate in our waters and secure economic advantage, including drilling for oil, in our territory,” he said in September 2024.
“We have never denied the possibility of discussion” with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), he added. “But it doesn’t mean we have to stop the operation in our area.”
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including parts of the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, complicating energy exploration by several of those countries.
Under international law, a nation has sovereign rights to extract natural resources from waters within its EEZ.
An international tribunal in 2016 dismissed China’s expansive claims as legally invalid, but Beijing continues to disregard the ruling.
Malaysian state energy firm Petronas operates oil and gas fields in the South China Sea within Malaysia’s EEZ and has had encounters with Chinese vessels.
Anwar said China has sent “one or two” protest notes to stop Malaysia’s oil exploration, but he stressed that the government would continue to explain its position to Beijing. Reuters
