Malaysia must continue to reject China’s claim on South China Sea, says expert

 

Maritime expert Toshi Yoshihara said accommodating China was like dealing with taxes, you either pay now, or later with penalties.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia must continue to firmly reject China’s claim over the South China Sea, says a maritime expert.

Toshi Yoshihara, a senior fellow of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), said acquiescence to China’s policy and preferences in the South China Sea won’t “satiate” the superpower’s ambitions.

“The policy of accommodating China is like dealing with taxes. You either pay now or you pay later with penalties.

“And frequently the penalties will come in the form of blood, sweat, and tears,” he said, during an engagement session with selected media.

Appeasement and accommodation, he said, could “frequently whet the appetite of the one you are trying to appease”.

Yoshihara was commenting on former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s remarks that while China could lay a claim on the South China Sea, other countries with overlapping claims were not obliged to accept it.

In August 2023, the foreign ministry said Malaysia did not recognise China’s 2023 standard map, which showed portions of Malaysian waters near Sabah and Sarawak as belonging to China.

Stressing that the map had “no binding effect on Malaysia”, Wisma Putra, however, acknowledged the complex and sensitive nature of the competing claims over the South China Sea.

Beijing has delineated a “nine-dash line” to assert its “historic claim” over 90% of the contested waters. Meanwhile, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam also have competing claims to smaller portions of the South China Sea.

Mahathir, at Nikkei’s annual Future of Asia conference in Tokyo last month said: “Okay, you (China) can claim. We don’t accept your claim but we don’t have to go to war against you because of your claim.

“They claim that the South China Sea belongs to them, but they have not stopped ships from passing through,” he said, pointing out that Malaysia had been extracting oil and gas from the waters but “so far they had not done anything”.

“As long as there is no stoppage of the passage of ships through the South China Sea, then it’s good enough,” said the nonagenarian, reported Radio Free Asia.

Asked how Malaysia could maintain good trade ties with China while at the same time safeguarding its maritime sovereignty, Yoshihara said Malaysia, like other states, must delicately balance economic relations with China and reliance on the US for regional security.

He also said some academics had suggested that to preserve peace and stability in the region, China and the US should strike a power-sharing diplomatic arrangement, known as a “grand bargain” or “condominium”, before it is too late.

“(They claimed that) China might become so powerful that it might dictate terms to the region and the US might not be able to do anything about it.”

But to make way for such a deal, some concessions would have to be given to China, including on the South China Sea.

Yoshihara said the issue with such grand bargains is that there will always be winners and losers. “And the losers are typically the smaller powers and the middle powers, like Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan.” - FMT