Malaysia has protested two new Philippine maritime laws that it alleges intrude on its South China Sea boundaries, in a move that comes amid rising regional tensions over Beijing’s assertiveness about its expansive claims. Malaysia filed a complaint against Vietnam in October, according to Reuters, which reported last week. One security analyst stated that, despite regional tensions, there is no possibility of conflict between Malaysia and the Philippines or Vietnam, whilst a regional observer stated that Manila and Hanoi were the transgressors in both instances. Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohamad Alamin warned his country’s parliament on Thursday that new Philippine legislation infringe on Malaysia’s oil-rich state of Sabah, which borders the South China Sea. “We’ve finished and analyzed important issues in our protest.

which we’ll submit today [Thursday] to confirm our commitment to preserving Sabah’s sovereignty and rights,” Alamin said, referring to the state claimed by both Malaysia and the Philippines. On November 8, Manila passed the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, which Alamin claims stretch into Malaysia’s 1979 limits, which Kuala Lumpur sees as globally recognized. The Philippines had stated that the legislation were meant to declare Manila’s maritime rights in conformity with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and to limit foreign ships and aircraft to defined routes. Philippine government did not immediately respond to Alamin’s remarks.

Sabah, located off the southern coast of the Philippines, has long been a source of contention between the neighbouring countries. In September 2020, the two countries took their disagreement about who owns Sabah to the UN. The dispute remains unsolved. Separately, in June 2023, a Paris court upheld Malaysia’s challenge to a $15 billion arbitration award to purported heirs of a former Sultan of Sulu. Sabah is home to part of the former sultanate. In February 2022, a Paris-based arbitration court ordered Malaysia to pay that sum to resolve a colonial-era land agreement. The former Sultanate of Sulu was located on a small archipelago in the far southern Philippines.