Global Courant 2023-04-11 10:51:11
PUTRAJAYA – Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim returned in triumph from his first visit to Beijing last week, where he bagged a whopping $39 billion new investment commitments from the Asian superpower.
With those deals in hand, Anwar effusively described his counterpart Xi Jinping as a “visionary” who had “not only changed the course of China, but also brought a glimmer of hope to the world and humanity, with the visions reaching beyond China to the region and the world.”
However, upon returning home, the Malaysian leader was met by a political opposition galvanizing around the idea that he is selling out the national interest to China, particularly in the disputed South China Sea.
While Anwar has taken a firm stance on his country’s territorial claims in the disputed waters, aroused outrage in certain political opposition circles after suggesting the possibility of joint energy exploration in disputed waters: “If China feels this is their right, Malaysia is open to negotiations.”
In response, opposition leader and former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin accused his successor of possibly “threatening the sovereignty of the country”, as Anwar ostensibly referred to areas “in the territory of Malaysia (which cannot be negotiated or demanded by China”) .
Muhyiddin, chairman of the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, called on the incumbent to be “tougher” in defending Malaysia’s sovereign rights and territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea.
Anwar’s camp reacted similarly, accusing the former prime minister of grandstanding and misinterpreting the incumbent’s statements on the matter.
An Anwar ally and outspoken member of parliament allegedly implicated that the opposition leader was either “bodoh” (unintelligent) or pretending to be “bodoh” on a complex geopolitical issue. Anwar himself challenged the opposition on the issue, claiming his statements were taken out of context.
Malaysia’s ex-premier Muhyiddin Yassin thinks Anwar is selling out to China. Image: Facebook
The heated back-and-forth disputes over the South China Sea reflect a remarkable shift in Malaysia’s domestic politics amid China’s growing footprint in neighboring waters.
Unlike at any other time in recent history, maritime disputes have become a central theme of otherwise fruitful bilateral relations.
Malaysia was one of the first regional states to normalize ties with Maoist China and historically has “silent diplomacyagainst their bilateral maritime disputes.
At times, the Southeast Asian nation has even seemingly behaved like China’s proxy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by openly criticizing Western military alliances in the region.
When the Australia-UK-US Submarine Agreement (AUKUS) was first announced, Malaysia not only criticized the new pact as “destabilising” but also stressed the “need to get the (Chinese) leadership’s opinion , especially the Chinese defense (officials). , about what they think of AUKUS and what their action might be.”
Money has undoubtedly influenced Malaysia’s opinion. China is Malaysia’s most important trade and investment partner.
Last year, bilateral trade reached an all-time high of $203 billion, with China consistently serving as the Southeast Asian country’s most important trading partner for the past 14 years.
Malaysia’s strategic partnership with China reached its peak under the government of Najib Razak, who increasingly relied on the generosity and strategic patronage of the Asian superpower during his tumultuous twilight years in office.
Under Najib’s supervision, Malaysia has been at the forefront of China’s emerging Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Southeast Asia.
Bilateral relations were given a temporary reset after Mahathir Mohamad returned to power in 2018, but the fiery non-year-old leader gradually walked away back to his previous complaints about an alleged “Chinese debt trap” after securing concessions from Beijing for several major BRI-related infrastructure projects.
Then-Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed (L) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) at a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, August 20, 2018. Photo: AFP/ Pool / How Hwee Young
Anwar, a nemesis of Najib and formerly Mahathir, boasted of major new Chinese investment programs in Malaysia, including an $18 billion project by China’s Rongsheng Petrochemical at a refining facility in the southern state of Johor.
“The total investment obtained from China is 170.07 billion ringgit ($38 billion), the largest investment Malaysia has made to date,” Anwar said during his parliamentary speech last week after returning from a four-day trip to China.
“(Chinese) Prime Minister Li Qiang and I decided not to consider nine other proposals because they did not contain a specific schedule or timetable for launch by this year or at least the end of the year. The ones we have decided on are controlled by (our) governments,” he added, underlining his government’s stated emphasis on “quality” investments.
But while bilateral economic relations have remained robust, the days of strategic acquiescence over the South China Sea are long gone.
Late 2019, Malaysia archived a new expanded continental shelf claim to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to directly challenge Beijing’s claims to the southwestern parts of the South China Sea.
Soon after, the then Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah turned down Beijing’s extensive claims in the area as “ridiculous” and without “legal basis”, going so far as to threaten international arbitration about the disputes, similar to the complaint filed in The Hague by the neighboring Philippines.
Months later, Malaysia raised the bar by one triple naval standoff with both China and Vietnam by conducting unilateral energy exploration activities, led by the state-owned company Petronas, in the country’s northwestern waters, specifically in blocks ND1 and ND2, which also fall within the Joint Development Area (JDA) between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Malaysia also started pushing back against a Chinese coast guard presence off the coast of Sarawak and over the disputed Spratlys Islands, where Putrajaya controls several land features.
The following year, Malaysia, then under the newly elected Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Jacobsubmitted a four-paragraph note verbale to the Chinese ambassador to express his “protest against the presence and activities of Chinese vessels, including a research vessel, in Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone off the coasts of Sabah and Sarawak.”
A Malaysian naval officer looks out over the South China Sea. Photo: Facebook
The Southeast Asian nation openly accused Beijing of violating it
“Malaysia’s Exclusive Economic Zone Act 1984, as well as the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”
Ismail made it clear that Putrajaya would not make a “sovereignty compromise” in the disputed waters. Earlier that year, Malaysia also publicly accused Chinese fighter jets violate “Malaysian airspace and sovereignty” and warned that “having friendly diplomatic relations with any country does not mean compromising our national security.”
Amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, the Malaysian armed forces sent an unmistakable message to Beijing by stepping up military cooperation with Washington. In 2021, Malaysia joined the United States-led Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training Exercise (SEACAT) with the aim of strengthening interoperability and enforcing international laws and standards.
The same year also saw the Malaysian Air Force perform large joint exercises with the US Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group during a high-profile exercise in the South China Sea.
With successive Malaysian prime ministers taking a tougher stance on the South China Sea, Anwar’s openness to joint energy exploration in the country’s claimed waters has understandably created a storm.
“This statement is reckless and should never be issued by a prime minister. The indirect implications of this statement have indirectly recognized the Chinese claim to areas that are already Malaysian territory and must be defended,” said former Prime Minister Muhyiddin said on Facebook last week.
“The Petronas area referred to by the Prime Minister is in fact in Malaysian territory and is non-negotiable even though it is claimed by the Chinese country,” he added, referring to the Malaysian energy giant’s unilateral exploration activities in the southwestern parts of the South China Sea. , which are also claimed by China and Vietnam.
Amid growing nationalist enthusiasm over the issue, the opposition leader lashed out at Anwar for supposedly appearing “very weak, very irresponsible and pledging the country’s dignity and sovereignty to foreign powers”.
CCG 5901 arrived at Luconia Shoals on 17 February 2023 and quickly learned of operations at Kasawari, with AIS data showing it approached to within seven nautical miles on 18 February and then to within 1 nautical miles on 11-12 and 17 March. .5 nautical miles. -19. Image: CSIS/ATMI
To complicate matters, Malaysia has been at odds with China since mid-February over the presence of the Chinese coastguard vessel CCG 5901 at Putrajaya-controlled Luconia Shoals, according to The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of the Center for Strategic and the think tank International Studies (CSIS) in Washington
Eager to defend his nationalist credentials, Anwar has fired back at his critics and repeated one uncompromisingly stance on the maritime disputes: “I said we continue our petroleum exploration project (in the South China Sea), period. I did not say that we will give and take (with China).”
Earlier also Anwar clarified during his speech to parliament that his government “will continue to monitor and if there is a collision, we will raise a protest” in response to China’s presence in waters claimed by Malaysia.
Follow Richard Javad Heydarian on Twitter @Richeydarian
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