SHAH ALAM: Not a problem. Foreign Minister DS Hishammuddin Hussein has been reported in the media as saying that no China coast guard or naval ships have encroached Malaysian waters since 100 days ago, the time he had been appointed to head Wisma Putra. He was commenting on the Auditor General’s report which stated 89 China coast guard and naval vessels have encroached Malaysian Maritime Zone from 2016 to 2019.
From the Malay Mail.
KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — Chinese coast guard and navy vessels have not been seen encroaching into Malaysian waters of late, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said.
He said bilateral ties between both countries have been strengthened further in the 100 days since he was appointed to helm Wisma Putra.
“One area I’ve had to work on since helming Wisma Putra is to improve Malaysia’s ties with China, India, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates so when we talk about South China Sea, of course the relationship with China is important.
“The latest, in the 100 days of helming Wisma Putra, Chinese vessels have not been seen in our waters, so how did we manage this? This is between us and the Chinese leadership… my stand is very clear, we will not compromise on our sovereignty,” he told a media conference in Parliament today.
However, Greg Poling, a Senior Fellow for The Center for Strategic and International Studies Southeast Asia and the director Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative has debunked the minister’s claim. In his personal Twitter feed, Poling posted on July 16:
Malaysia’s FM says there have been no Chinese ships in Malaysian waters for 100 days. But there have been. Every. Single. Day.
CCG 5203 patrolled Luconia Shoals from Apr 2; replaced by 5204 on May 22; replaced by 5202 on July 7. Here it is today.
He also posted a photograph of an AIS data of the SCS which clearly showed a China Coast Guard ship as mentioned in his post.
I have retweeted Poling’s post while tagging Hishammuddin. Hopefully the minister will respond though I was reminded by a colleague that he (Hishammuddin) had never responded to my social media posts. The only time he did, was to delete a Twitter post after I replied/retweeted on it.
Hishammuddin has issued a statement on what he said yesterday as well as in response to the US statement on South China Sea. On his statement that no China coast guard and navy vessels have been detected in Malaysia waters since he became Foreign Minister, he said he was not wrong and invoked another issue, the West Cappella issue, to justify his original statement.
*post updated with Hishammuddin statement.
— Malaysian Defence
.
If you like this post, buy me an espresso. Paypal Payment
View Comments (92)
CCG is there today. How about our presence there today?
seen that video of his claim yesterday. he should not have lie/twist things. people can check easily and debunk nowadays. hope other politician will push hard for more ship for MMEA and RMN now. we really need it.
So can we trust what the Minister will say?? It depends I guess. Hope that this statement would not lead the current government to further reduce the spending for RMN and MMEA to procure the needed equipment for monitoring and patrol SCS.
H2O sudah u-turn with his latest statement. Nowhere mentioned about the " Chinese vessels have not been seen in our waters ".
Really no respect for this person.
Weeeelll, it's like NOT a single Chinese CG vessel HAS BEEN SEEN near the East coast of the Peninsular. ...that is 'essentially' RIGHT since the Luconia Shoals is nearer to Sarawak's coastline. Does that mean Sarawak is 'actually' RIGHT in its decision to build its own maritime@fisheries enforcement unit, the so-called Sarawak Coast Guard? If that's the case, well then, more applause is appropriate for that Borneo territory! Pardon my sarcasm.
Hishamuddin might have made a faux pas in this case, but I'm inclined to think that our foreign relations have improved somewhat since he took over. I hope he could slow talk US some more to provide more goodies to us. Perhaps additional radar + UAVs?
" If that’s the case, well then, more applause is appropriate for that Borneo territory! Pardon my sarcasm. "
With China maintaining full time presence in that area and the MMEA stretched thin, I feel the formation of SCG is justified so that MMEA can concentrate in dealing with the CCG. Be sarcastic all you like but the reality is MMEA is lacking hulls to handle all its commitments. At the moment MMEA needs all the help it could get until it could get additional hulls.
Luqman- “So can we trust what the Minister will say??“
Can we trust what any politician says?
As citizens it’s our right to question and scrutinise authority.
We have to.
The audit great. To those in the know; little of what was mentioned was a revelation. The question really is what comes out of it? Will those in authority take steps to rectify what’s mentioned in the audit? Who ensures that those in authority actually takes the necessary steps to do so?
As it stands there will no pressure on the part if the government ti rectify things and unfortunately no incentive to do so as the average voter is indifferent.
Everything wrong/flawed mentioned in the audit is a reflection of how we view and handle defence; a lack of focus and urgency and the lack is a manageable and holistic policy which is based on an honest and realistic long term assessment of the threats we face and our ability to handle them.
This is the statement regarding beting serupai from US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.
" The PRC has no lawful territorial or maritime claim to (or derived from) James Shoal, an entirely submerged feature only 50 nautical miles from Malaysia and some 1,000 nautical miles from China’s coast. James Shoal is often cited in PRC propaganda as the “southernmost territory of China.” International law is clear: An underwater feature like James Shoal cannot be claimed by any state and is incapable of generating maritime zones. James Shoal (roughly 20 meters below the surface) is not and never was PRC territory, nor can Beijing assert any lawful maritime rights from it "
If this is not a bullying, neo colonizing move from China, then what is it? China has no respect to the UNCLOS law it agreed to, to sarawak and malaysian people by fabricating the absurd story about beting serupai being China's southenmost territory.
Either the Auditor General or the Minister does not know their facts. Please find out before issueing statements