Malaysia maintains ‘flexible approach’ in dealing with South China Sea dispute

SINGAPORE: Malaysia maintains a traditionally flexible approach in dealing with any dispute that includes South China Sea, says an academician.

“Sometimes, we could be vocal when we feel we have been pushed too hard. More often than not, we try to resolve the matter behind closed doors, in a more peaceful manner,” Oh Ei Sun told Malaysian reporters yesterday.

The senior fellow at Rajaratnam School of International Studies was asked whether Malaysia should be more vocal in its stand on the South China Sea dispute.

“The reason for that obviously is because Malaysia values its overall relationship with China,” he added, when met on the sidelines of the Think Tank Seminar on South China Sea and Regional Cooperation and Development held here.

Malaysia is one of the four Asean countries that are asserting territorial claims on the South China Sea.

Oh, who was also Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s former political secretary noted that China is Malaysia’s largest trading partner while Malaysia is also China’s largest trading partner in Southeast Asia.

Bilateral trade between them totalled about RM390 billion as of 2015.

“With that kind of very close trading relationship, it is very difficult for Malaysia to be in a position to act antagonistically towards China. We will stand up when we feel that our sovereignty is being infringed.

“But we will not adopt the approach by the Philippines and Vietnam to almost proactively try to be antagonistic to China,” he said.

On July 12, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague decided against China on its maritime dispute with the Philippines.

China said it neither accepted nor recognised the award of an arbitral tribunal established at the request of the Philippines.

Malaysia, he opined, believed that all relevant parties could peacefully resolve disputes by fully respecting the diplomatic and legal processes and relevant international law.

He said Malaysia also valued the fact that one of China’s leaders had called upon all parties to set aside the dispute temporarily and focus on joint exploration and development.

“We take that to heart … that I think is the core position of Malaysia. We should set aside those differences because we cannot resolve that kind of territorial dispute in our lifetime.

“If you just focus on it … it is going to hurt overall relations. Thus, try to do more confidence-building mechanisms. That would be more helpful in terms

of resolving these differences in the long run,” Oh said. — Bernama

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