Exclusive | ‘Divide and conquer Asean’: China tries to go one on one with Malaysia to settle South China Sea disputes
- Beijing pushing for mechanism like it has with Manila, source says, rather than go directly to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- But Malaysia’s foreign minister says it will discuss the disputed waters on a group basis despite China ‘asking most Asean countries to go bilateral’
China has been pushing Malaysia to solve the two countries’ South China Sea disputes in the hope of calming one of its most important neighbours.
A source familiar with China-Malaysia ties said Beijing had suggested setting up a “bilateral consultation mechanism” to discuss disputes exclusively with Malaysia – one of the more vocal claimants in the disputed waters since Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad took power last year.
Beijing has been aiming to negotiate a code of conduct for the South China Sea with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and complete a first draft of a pact by the end of this year, but the two sides remain far apart.
China has a vice-ministerial-level mechanism with co-claimant the Philippines, with officials first meeting in 2017.
Malaysia has been reluctant to agree to the same mechanism, which the source described as no more than China’s “divide and conquer” tactic in dealing with its smaller neighbours.