Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday said that his government plans to develop some offshore rocks which were the subject of a territorial dispute with Singapore, days after he canceled a big rail project with his southern neighbor.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awarded the outcrop, known as Middle Rocks, near the opening of the Straits of Singapore to Malaysia in 2008.
At the same time, the court based in the Netherlands ruled nearby Pedra Branca island belonged to Singapore.
Malaysia sought a review of that ruling last year, in the hope of restaking its claim to Pedra Branca.
Singapore opposed Malaysia’s bid to review the ruling and the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that the ICJ had informed it Malaysia had withdrawn that request.
Malaysia’s newly elected prime minister told a news conference that Malaysia had already been building structures on Middle Rocks.
“It is our intention to enlarge Middle Rocks so we can form a small island for us,” he said.
Mahathir declined to elaborate, saying the plan had not been finalized.
The Singaporean government did not immediately have a comment on the Malaysian plan to build on the rocks.
While Singapore has not been seeking to revive any claim to Middle Rocks, it is likely to keep a close eye on Malaysia’s plan to develop the outcrop at the opening of one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported last year the opening of a maritime base called Abu Bakar on Middle Rocks.
The base comprises a jetty linking two main rocks — 320m apart — a lighthouse and a helipad, a video posted on Facebook by the sultan of the Malaysian state of Johor showed.
Mahathir has already made a major decision affecting relations with Singapore, canceling a project to build a high-speed rail link between Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, and the city-state.
The Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry on Monday said that it had not received any official communication from Malaysia on the decision.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in