Malaysia Resists China’s Bullying to Continue Oil and Gas Exploration in South China Sea

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday rebuffed efforts by China to bully Malaysia away from oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea. Anwar’s government is investigating a leaked Chinese diplomatic note that accused Malaysia of violating Chinese sovereignty by working near the oil-rich Luconia Shoals.

“Of course, we will have to operate in our waters and secure economic advantage, including drilling for oil, in our territory,” Anwar said during an official trip to Russia.

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“We have never denied the possibility of discussion, but it doesn’t mean we have to stop the operation in our area,” he said.

Anwar’s remarks were prompted by a story in the Philippine Inquirer last week, in which the paper said Malaysia was getting a “taste of China’s West Philippine Sea bullying.” 

The “West Philippine Sea” is the preferred Philippine name for the South China Sea, which China has illegally claimed almost complete sovereignty over. Beijing marks its claim by drawing an infamous “Nine Dash Line” on maps that show a number of contested islands supposedly nestled within China’s borders. The legality of these claims has been dismissed by international tribunals, but China uses various bullying tactics to make other Pacific nations respect its claims.

China recently went even further by publishing updated maps with a ten-dash line. The new map claims even more territory for China around Taiwan, northern India, Japan, and Russia. Some of those nations have been gritting their teeth and trying to quietly ignore Beijing’s new territorial claims, but India has been vocal in expressing its opposition to the Ten-Dash Line. 

The Philippine Inquirer story last week said Malaysia is beginning to experience the same kind of intimidation tactics China has been using against the Philippines for years. As evidence, the story offered photos of a two-page communique from the Chinese Foreign Ministry that tersely informed Malaysia it was trespassing across the new ten-dash border China decided to draw for itself.

The communique was particularly concerned with features in the Spratly Islands chain known as Nankang Ansha and Beikang Ansha to Malaysia. Western maps call these features the Luconia Shoals.

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The Luconia Shoals lie within a hundred miles of Malaysian Borneo, while they are over 1,200 miles from China’s nearest legitimate territorial claim, Hainan Island. By any reasonable standard of international law, the area clearly lies within Malaysia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

China’s letter to Malaysia nevertheless claimed the shoals as Chinese territory and ordered the Malaysians to halt oil and gas exploration there.

There appears to be a great deal of treasure buried near the shoals. Malaysia’s national oil and gas company, Petronas, is developing an immense undersea gas field known as Kasawari that might eventually be pumping over 900 million cubic feet of gas products per day.

Chinese coast guard ships have been harassing Petronas exploratory vessels since around 2015, when the resource wealth of the area became apparent. The Philippine Inquirer bombshell report suggested China’s aggression could be about to ratchet up to levels approaching what the Filipinos are dealing with in their own threatened waters.

Anwar sought to downplay these tensions on Thursday, following up his firm insistence on pursuing Malaysia’s oil and gas interests with reassurances that his government still regards China as a “great friend.”

“We have said that we will not transgress other people’s borders. That is our stringent policy and principles. They know our position,” Anwar said of the Chinese government.

“They have claimed that we are infringing on their territory. That is not the case. We say no, it is our territory. But if they continue with the dispute, then okay, we will have to listen, and they will have to listen,” he said.

“We’ve explained that we must proceed as it concerns our economic survival,” he said.

The Malaysian Foreign Ministry issued its own statement on Thursday, expressing concern that the Philippine Inquirer story may have undermined “the confidentiality of diplomatic communication.”

The ministry said leaking China’s menacing diplomatic note to the press was “an irresponsible act.”