China and Malaysia have agreed to set up a joint dialogue mechanism for the disputed South China Sea, the Chinese government’s top diplomat said yesterday after meeting the Malaysian foreign minister.
Chinese naval deployments in the strategic waterway, through which more than US$3.4 trillion of goods are transported each year, have reignited tension with Vietnam and the Philippines.
Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also have competing claims in the South China Sea.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Malaysia had been critical of Beijing’s South China Sea position, but has not been excessively outspoken, especially after China pumped billions of US dollars into infrastructure projects under its Belt and Road Initiative.
Malaysia regularly tracks Chinese naval and coastguard vessels entering Malaysia’s territorial waters, but China respects Malaysia and had “not done anything that caused us trouble, so far,” Malaysian Minister of Defense Mohamad Sabu said last month.
Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi (王毅) told a news conference with Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Saifuddin Abdullah that this year tensions in the South China Sea had dropped.
Littoral states and China are committed to continue appropriately handling the South China Sea issue, and jointly safeguarding peace and stability there, Wang said.
“To this end, our two sides have agreed to set up a bilateral consultation mechanism for maritime issues, a new platform for dialogue and cooperation for both sides,” Wang said.
Abdullah, who referred to Wang as “my brother,” said that the mechanism would be led by the two nations’ foreign ministries.
“Our officers will be discussing the details, but I think this is one important outcome of the meeting today and also the 45 years of our diplomatic relations,” Abdullah said.
China is debt-heavy Malaysia’s biggest trading partner and the nations also have close cultural ties.
China and Malaysia in July resumed construction on a train project in northern Malaysia, which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative, after a year-long suspension and following a rare agreement to cut its cost by nearly a third, to about US$11 billion.
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