KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya submitted a diplomatic note to the United Nations on Saturday to reject the Philippines' bid to reclaim a territory in Sabah waters.
The Philippines' submission to the UN was about it reclaiming seabed territory.
Manila had registered its entitlement to an extended continental shelf in the western Palawan region of the South China Sea, defining the seabed areas over which it has sovereign and exclusive rights to exploit for natural resources.
The complex dispute, which can be traced back to colonial-era agreements, has significant political and economic implications for both nations given the region's considerable oil and gas resources.
Malaysia has "categorically" rejected the Philippines' filing, according to the South China Morning Post report , which quoted the diplomatic note.
Malaysia is doing this on the basis that the extended continental margin in the submission "was projected from the baselines of the Malaysian state of Sabah.
"This clearly disregards Malaysia's indisputable sovereignty over the state of Sabah," the note said.
On Monday, during his inaugural official visit to the Philippines, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan had paid a courtesy call on the republic president Ferdinand Marcos in Malacanang Palace and met his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo.