MARITIME security is crucial for the South China Sea and Malaysia plans to leverage its upcoming chairmanship of Asean to resolve outstanding issues involving the contentious waterway, said Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari.
The Defence Ministry, he said, emphasises three important pillars over the South China Sea issue: Malaysia’s preparedness and the modernisation of its navy assets; the quality of its operations; and the use of defence diplomacy.
“Through Asean, we will try to strengthen our cooperation ... because most of Asean is related to the South China Sea.
“So we will use our Asean chairmanship platform next year to resolve outstanding issues, including how we can benefit from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos),” said Adly during the question-and-answer session in Parliament yesterday.
He said it is important for Malaysia to be able to resume its economic activities in the contentious South China Sea region.
“It is also important to ensure the safety of our fishermen and maritime trade in the waterway,” he added.
Adly said the presence of Chinese assets in the region mainly consists of China’s Coast Guards and not its naval ships.
Currently, China asserts a stake in nearly the entire region despite overlapping maritime claims by Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei.
Recent confrontations between China and the Philippines raised fears of an armed conflict.
During the three-day Asean summits in Laos earlier this month, there were also repeated calls by various leaders to speed up the conclusion of the Code of Conduct (COC) governing the South China Sea.
The COC completed its second reading in March and is currently in its third reading.
Since 2009, China has been Asean’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade volume reaching US$546.6bil in the first seven months of this year.
