Top envoys of Malaysia and Philippines spar over Sabah

This file combination of pictures created on July 30, 2020 shows Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin (left) and Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishamuddin Hussein. - AFP

HONG KONG (Bloomberg): The Philippine foreign minister sparked a diplomatic fight over Twitter by asserting ownership over the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo, reviving a longstanding territorial dispute between the Southeast Asian nations.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, on his official Twitter account, said he will summon the Philippine ambassador on Monday (Aug 3) in reaction to his Philippine counterpart’s July 27 tweet.