Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said Tuesday that the country would seek to utilize its position as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc to apply diplomatic pressure on China to make it aware of its peaceful obligations.
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“If the reports we’ve received from various sources regarding the buildup and placement of military assets in the Spratlys are true – this forces us in a pushback against China”, Mr Hishammuddin told reporters after attending a leadership conference at the Malaysian Armed Forces Staff College.
But he said that the United States has no expectation that such a loss of access would ever occur.
China is laying claim to a large part of the South China Sea, which has billions of barrels of oil below it. Several neighboring countries – Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam – have competing claims in the region.
Beijing accused Tokyo of interfering in the South China Sea after Manila said it would lease five Japanese military planes. Most recently, China announced that it would soon begin offering civilian flights to Woody Island, in the Paracel Island chain. The admiral said that India, which the Pentagon wants to partner with more closely, and smaller countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar have worked together to resolve disputes peacefully, and called for countries to do the same “east of the Straits of Malacca”, an area that includes the South China Sea.
Although there have been no definite confirmations from any of the two nations, some experts believe that signs are indicative that India, in one of days, might be joining the pack in pressuring China on the maritime dispute.
Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Air Marshal Davies said Australia provides an opportunity for the United States to conduct long-range exercises in its remote northern regions.
China’s disregard for the Philippine case and its usurpations in Philippine waters have prompted significant backlash in that country.
The Philippines has taken the quarrel with China over ownership of the islands in what Manila calls the West Philippine Sea to an global arbitration court in The Hague. Australia has instead opted to aid the United States with missions in the region.
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Del Rosario also stressed the importance of the tribunal coming to a decision soon given recent Chinese actions in the South China Sea – including island-building activities and construction as well as ongoing militarization – which had “seriously heightened tensions”.
