Let us retain our islands in South China Sea, says PM

PETALING JAYA (June 20): Malaysia would like to retain the islands in the South China Sea the country has occupied, said Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in an interview recently.

“…. we hope that we will stay on those islands, because it is a part of our keeping the sea safe from pirates and others,” he told the Hong Kong-based English daily South China Morning Post (SCMP).

“In the past, [our view was that] the shelf in the sea and the area less than 200 miles from our shores … [was] our sea. So we find that, in that sea, there are certain rocks which we have developed into islands,” Dr Mahathir explained.

A number of South East Asian countries and China have overlapping claims on numerous islands in the South China Sea.

China has occupied many of these islands and have also built structures and runways on them.

It has also conducted military exercises over and around these islands and based anti-aircraft systems on some of them.

In recent years, there were reports that Chinese navy ships have patrolled the James Shoal, an area claimed by Malaysia.

In 2015, Malaysia has even protested against China’s intrusion on its islands.

“So we want to retain, of course, about four or five islands that we have occupied. The rest – whoever thinks it is theirs, they can occupy. It is something if China claims the South China Sea is theirs, but those islands have always been regarded as ours for a long time,” Dr Mahathir told SCMP.

As a result of China’s aggressive claims in the South China Sea, the US has also been active in the area as the latter tries to provide support to allies in the region such as the Philippines and Vietnam, and “balance” out China.

And Dr Mahathir is therefore wary of the South China Sea becoming an area for confrontation among major powers.

“I think there should not be too many warships. Warships create tension. Someday, somebody might make some mistakes and there will be a fight, some ships will be lost, and there might even be a war.

“We don’t want that. What we want is for the seas to be patrolled by small patrol boats, equipped to deal with pirates, not to fight another war.”