JAKARTA - Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday Beijing had expressed concern about energy activities by Malaysian state company Petronas in the South China Sea, even though Kuala Lumpur believes the projects are on its territory.
PM Anwar's remarks come after he opened the door to negotiations with China earlier this week, in a sign of increasing pressure on Malaysia's energy operations in waters claimed by Beijing as its territory.
Petronas operates oil and gas fields within Malaysia's 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). In recent years, they have had several encounters with Chinese ships.
Beijing is concerned that "Petronas has been carrying out major activities in areas that are also claimed by China," said PM Anwar, responding to a parliamentary question about discussions over the South China Sea during his visit to China last week.
"I stress... that Malaysia views the area as Malaysian territory, so Petronas will continue its exploration activities there," Anwar said, without specifying the offshore project or its location.
However, Malaysia is open to negotiations "if China feels this is their right", said PM Anwar, adding that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc believes the overlapping claims should be resolved by negotiation.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, through which some $3 trillion in ship-borne trade passes each year. On the other hand, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam have several overlapping claims.
China claims its territory through the "nine-dash line" on their maps, which cuts through the EEZs of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. However, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that the dotted line, which stretches 1.500 km off the coast of China, has no legal basis.
A US think tank, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said last week that a Chinese coast guard vessel had for the past month been operating near Petronas's Kasawari gas development in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, and was as close as 1.5 miles from the project. the. A Malaysian navy ship is also in the area, AMTI said.
The Kasawari field has around 3 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and is expected to start production this year.
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Separately, China's Foreign Ministry on Monday said it was not aware of the specific incident, but said the behavior of the Chinese coast guard was beyond reproach.
Meanwhile, PM Anwar in his comments in parliament said China believed that its ships were in international waters.
The Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will issue a protest note if there is a "collision" between the Malaysian and Chinese vessels there, said PM Anwar.
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