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MANILA – Malaysia once again rejected the Philippines’ claim to Sabah and dismissed Manila’s “excessive maritime claims” in the disputed Kalayaan Island Group (Spratlys) in the South China Sea, a note verbale submitted to the United Nations showed.
The document, presented by Malaysia’s Permanent Mission to the UN on Friday, is an apparent escalation of a debate fueled by an exchange of tweets between foreign ministers on both sides in July.
It also marks a rare encounter between two Southeast Asian states with conflicting claims in the South China Sea, where ASEAN, as a bloc, would generally unite in a united front against China, claiming almost all waters.
“The Permanent Mission of Malaysia also wishes to inform the Secretary General that Malaysia has never recognized the claim of the Republic of the Philippines on the Malaysian state of Sabah, formerly known as North Borneo,” the presentation read.
It was in response to a note verbale that the Philippines sent to the UN on March 6, which affirmed the country’s sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group.
The Manila document was a response to a December 2019 submission by Malaysia regarding the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles in the disputed South China Sea.
According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the area of 200 nautical miles (370 kms) from the baseline of a country’s territorial sea is its exclusive economic zone, where it can exercise sovereign rights to use natural resources and jurisdiction to put up facilities or structures.
The law establishes that “the exclusive economic zone shall not extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the width of the territorial sea is measured.”
The March note from the Philippines said Malaysia’s presentation of the continental shelf beyond this measure is “projected from parts of northern Borneo over which the Republic of the Philippines has never renounced its sovereignty.”
Malaysia has long ruled Sabah, while the Philippines has made a latent claim.
In its note, Kuala Lumpur cited an October 2001 judgment of the International Court of Justice on the Philippine Claim.
A separate opinion by Judge Thomas Franck upheld the right of the North Borneo people to self-determination, saying that “modern international law does not recognize the survival of a sovereign right based solely on a historical title.”
“In light of the clear exercise by the North Borneo people of their right to self-determination, it does not matter whether or not this Court, in whatever interpretation it may give to any historical instrument or effectiveness, upholds the Philippines’ claim on the historical title, “read the opinion, which Malaysia cited in its submission.
“In light of the above, the claim of the Republic of the Philippines on North Borneo clearly has no basis under international law,” the letter from Malaysia said.
He also rejected Manila’s claims to the Kalayaan Island Group, calling them “excessive.” He said the Philippines’ claim also has “no basis under international law.”
Instead, it reiterated that its communication was aligned with its “rights and obligations for the delimitation of the outer limits of its continental shelf where that shelf extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the width extends. of the territorial sea “, citing the CONVEMAR.
The competing claims between the Philippines and Malaysia about Sabah came to the fore in July after Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin tweeted “Sabah is not in Malaysia,” prompting a retort from Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who called this “an irresponsible statement”. “
Then both sides summoned the other’s envoys.
The Philippines claims Sabah citing a land lease agreement in 1878 between the Sulu Sultanate and the British North Borneo Chartered Co.
There have only been intermittent discussions between the Philippines and Malaysia over the claim, and the latter has continued to rule the territory. In November 2016, Duterte and then-Prime Minister Najib Razak agreed to put the dispute aside.
Last year, on a visit to Manila, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said there is “no claim” when asked about the Philippines’ assertion of sovereignty over Sabah in an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN News.
In response, the Philippines asserted its claim.
In 2013, hundreds of Tawi-Tawi militants went to Lahad Datu in Sabah to assert their claim, calling themselves “Royal Security Forces of the Sulu Sultanate and North Borneo”.
Malaysia has sentenced nine Filipinos to death for the incident.
In 1968, the Republic Law 5446 or the Philippine Baseline Law included “the territory of Sabah, situated in northern Borneo, over which the Republic of the Philippines has acquired dominion and sovereignty.”
It was amended in 2009, but a Supreme Court decision said Republic 9522 or the Baseline Law still did not give up the Philippine claim to Sabah, a claim Malaysia has rejected.
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