Malaysia has rejected China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea in a rare public rebuke of its largest trading partner.
The government two weeks ago made a submission to the UN on its rights over the remaining portion of a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles (370km) from the country’s baselines, Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hishammuddin Hussein told parliament yesterday.
It was in response to a similar claim China made to the UN on Dec. 12 last year, he said.
“Malaysia opposes China’s claim that they have historic rights over those waters,” Hishammuddin said. “The Malaysian government also considers China’s claims over maritime features in the South China Sea to have no basis whatsoever under international law.”
The rebuke is an unusual move for Malaysia, which had previously avoided reproaching China openly by reiterating its focus on ensuring the area remains open for trade.
Its submission to the UN comes on the heels of Australia and the US rejecting China’s maritime claims in response to what the two allies see as an intensifying campaign to dominate the resource-rich area.
China has built bases and other outposts on shoals, reefs and rock outcroppings to deepen its claim more than 80 percent of the 3.63 million square kilometers waterway, with Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia claiming parts of the same area.
Malaysia will remain cautious in defending its claim to avoid escalating tensions, Hishammuddin said.
It will keep working toward a resolution within the ASEAN, which is holding discussions with China for a Code of Conduct for the area, even as talks have stalled due to the pandemic, he added.
“If we follow the narratives and pressure of superpowers, there’s a high potential for ASEAN countries to lean toward certain countries,” he said.
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
For two decades, researchers observed members of the Ngogo chimpanzee group of Kibale National Park in Uganda spend their days eating fruits and leaves, resting, traveling and grooming in their tropical rainforest abode, but this stable community then fractured and descended into years of deadly violence. The researchers are now describing the first clearly documented example of a group of wild chimpanzees splitting into two separate factions, with one launching a series of coordinated attacks against the other. Adult males and infants were targeted, with 28 deaths. “Biting, pounding the victim with their hands, dragging them, kicking them — mostly adult males,
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
SUPERFAN: The Japanese PM played keyboard in a Deep Purple tribute band in middle school and then switched to drums at university, she told the British rock band Legendary British rock band Deep Purple yesterday made Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s day with a brief visit to their high-profile superfan as they returned to the nation they first toured more than half a century ago. Takaichi’s reputation as an amateur drummer, and a fan of hard rock and heavy metal has been well documented, and she has referred to Deep Purple as one of her favorite bands along with the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. “You are my god,” a giddy Takaichi said in English to Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice, presenting him with a set of made-in-Japan
RSS