GEORGE TOWN: Malaysia's decision to explore potential oil and gas areas in the South China Sea, despite protests from China, is a move in the right direction.
Nusantara Academy of Strategic Research senior fellow Professor Dr Azmi Hassan said this was because the exploration was being carried out on Malaysia's side of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) despite China's claim that it was their territory.
China's claim could not be justified, he said.
"It is the correct decision to continue with our exploration because it is being done in our EEZ, even though China said it's their territory.
"Our EEZ is based on UNCLOS (United Nation Convention Law of the Sea) international law," he told the New Straits Times when commenting on Malaysia's decision not to stop its exploration of potential oil and gas areas in the South China Sea, despite protests from China that our country had purportedly crossed the permitted borders.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had stressed that the operation was carried out inside Malaysia, and there was no reason to commit provocative actions against China.
Azmi however sees China's diplomatic note protest as a good sign.
He said it was not the first time that China object Malaysia' oil exploration.
"But physically, for example, their coast guard ship encroached, well I say encroached in our EEZ because we cannot stop them from entering our EEZ because our EEZ is not our sovereign maritime area.
"We have only the right to explore it, including natural resources inside here.
"So in this case, I think when China put out a protest using the diplomatic note, which is very rare; it means it is using international law, and our EEZ is based on international law of UNCLOS.
"So I think this issue blew up, because somebody, made it public (this particular protest diplomatic note).
"I think we should be wary of that. I think this particular entity that exposed the diplomatic note wants us to react as (how) Manila reacts."
Azmi said, in this case, when he said that it was good that China was using a diplomatic note, it meant that they were using international law.
"This means that discussion about their claim and EEZ can be based on international law, which as we know, the 2016 ICJ (International Court of Justice) decision saying that China has no right to claim 85 per cent of the South China Sea.
"I guess we should try to pull China to open up communication to discuss diplomatically about this particular issue so that we don't fall into the trap as how Manila already fell into the trap with physical alteration with China."