Cost of conflict in South China Sea 'too high'

China and several Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, have competing claims over territorial waters in the South China Sea (SCS). In recent years, Beijing has been building airstrips and hangars, as well as stationing anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems in the Spratly Islands — a collection of reefs and rocks located off the coast of the Philippines. 

China claims sovereignty over a large part of the South China Sea, although these claims were rejected by an international tribunal in 2016. The head of the US Pacific Command at the time warned the international community about China's "assertive, aggressive behavior in the South China Sea."

At this year's Munich Security Conference, Singapore's Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen spoke to DW about the importance of multilateral cooperation and transparency between countries in avoiding conflict. 

DW: The South China Sea has been a flashpoint for quite some time. In case of an all-out military confrontation, what could Singapore do to diffuse tensions?

Ng Eng Hen: I don't think an all-out confrontation will take place. All the parties involved — the claimant states and the international community — recognize that the price is too high and the issues in the South China Sea do not warrant an actual physical confrontation.

Having said that, it doesn't mean there can't be any miscalculations or mishaps. This occurred recently when the [USS] Decatur during a freedom of navigation operation came close to a Chinese ship. We all recognize that there's been dispute over territorial claims of China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, with a slight overlap of their exclusive economic zones (EEZs) with the nine-dash line [China's demarcation line in the South China Sea].

All the claimant states have built on the disputed territory. Some argue that China has built more — whatever the case, all have done so. Whatever China has done, whether it's in the Spratlys or the Paracels, has allowed them to operationalize their forward defense line. It's now some 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the mainland coast, with intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance capabilities, extended runways, which can accommodate their planes including aircraft and fighter jets. The features on the South China Sea have point defense systems. I doubt if anyone is thinking of pushing the Chinese off.

Are you worried about it? Do you think it could also endanger Singapore's security?

Not Singapore's security, but you know the South China Sea is one of the busiest sea lines of communication, carrying a sizeable load of global trade and functioning as a maritime passage for oil — a strategic asset. But all the countries know that. So it's not so worrisome for Singapore. They will be careful not to precipitate any confrontation. In fact, on the ground, there have been some incidents, but on a historical scale and compared to some other regions, it's significantly less.

Do you think China's belligerence and increasing hegemony could pose a challenge to other countries as well?

That's an opinion. From China's perspective, they term it a peaceful rise, which they want other countries to participate in and to that extent, I think there is some truth to it. For the past decade, in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, when Europe and America were in economic doldrums, it was Chinese growth that sustained Asia.

I remember meeting a group of businessmen at the time, including American and European businessmen, and asking them: "Where would you have liked to be in this decade?" Three of them said Asia. So I wouldn't mischaracterize China's role. We recognize China's claims on the nine-dash line, as well as the arbitral ruling that the Philippines brought upon the Chinese, making a declaration in terms of claims and what the features are entitled to. The Chinese approach has been to establish a code of conduct with the claimant states and with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

BEIJING'S ISLAND-BUILDING IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

Runway

China is expanding the construction of its facilities on Fiery Cross Reef. Provided by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), this June 28, 2015 photo reveals Beijing has nearly completed a 3,000 meter (9,800-foot) airstrip, long enough to accommodate most Chinese military aircraft. Two helipads, up to 10 satellite communications antennas, and one possible radar tower are also visible.

ASEAN appears to be a bit split on the South China Sea issue. What role can Singapore play to help the regional players find common ground?

There's been the declaration of conduct, which preceded the code of conduct, signed by all ASEAN leaders and China in 2012. There has been a consensus statement with the defense and foreign ministers of ASEAN, who consistently declare their resolve for the dispute to be settled by peaceful means and respect for international law.

As to the role Singapore can play: we take a very practical approach. When Brunei had the chair [at ASEAN], we persuaded them to hold an 18-nation maritime exercise, and we succeeded in doing that. This was also an exchange of ten ASEAN countries plus eight others.

Recently, as chair, Singapore facilitated the first ASEAN-China maritime exercise — in China. I think our approach is that you have to increase these engagements to reduce the risk of miscalculation. The ASEAN defense ministers' meeting has also set up hotlines so that you can deescalate.

DW

• Date 18.02.2019
• Author Shamil Shams (Interview)

A Malaysian corruption scandal shows the dark side of China’s Belt and Road Initiative

IN RECENT months, countries from the Maldives to Monte­negro have discovered the dark side of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a multitrillion-dollar plan to finance infrastructure in 70-odd countries. Ports, railroads and other projects are being built with funds borrowed from Beijing, and governments are discovering that the crippling debt has become an economic and a political trap. Why would they get themselves in such a mess? The answer, in at least a few cases, is corruption.

A jaw-dropping article in the Wall Street Journal this week offered a dramatic example. According to documents reviewed by the newspaper’s reporters, senior Chinese officials offered to help Malaysia’s then-prime minister escape from a financial scandal in exchange for signing on to huge railway and pipeline projects that would be built at inflated prices by Chinese state companies, with money borrowed from Chinese banks. Previously, Journal reporters had helped to expose how hundreds of millions of dollars from a Malaysian state investment fund had flowed into the bank account of then-Prime Minister Najib Razak; investigations by prosecutors in the United States and Switzerland followed.

The new Journal report says that, in a series of meetings in 2016, Malaysian officials agreed to bail out the development fund by contracting to spend $16 billion on a rail line, or more than twice its projected cost, and another $2.5 billion on a gas pipeline. Senior Chinese officials, who said they were acting on instructions of President Xi Jinping, offered an extraordinary sweetener: They said they were conducting “full operational surveillance” of the Journal’s Hong Kong bureau and its staff, and would hand over “a wealth of data to Malaysia through ‘back channels,’ ” according to Malaysian notes seen by Journal reporters. The Chinese promised to help Mr. Najib identify the Malaysian sources who had reported on the graft and to use their influence to stop the investigations in the United States and elsewhere.

The plan badly backfired. Mr. Najib signed the contracts but then lost an election in May to an opposition coalition. A new government promptly opened its own criminal investigation and brought criminal charges against Mr. Najib, who denies wrongdoing. The current prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, suspended the Chinese projects while on a visit to Beijing, bluntly telling his hosts that “we do not want . . . a new version of co­lo­ni­al­ism.”

The rebuff won’t stop China’s attempts to turn Malaysia into a client state; it is still building a huge port on the strategic strait of Malacca that could someday accommodate its aircraft carriers. But the story of how it allegedly suborned the Malaysian government will be read closely by people in other countries wondering about the huge and non-transparent deals their governments are making with Beijing. As it should be.

By Editorial Board

January 11
The Washington Post

Will the United States support Malaysia’s fragile democratic experiment?

The breakout of real democracy in a Muslim-majority Asian country has gone largely unnoticed here in Washington, but we ignore it at our own peril. Malaysia’s fragile democratic experiment is a crucial opportunity for the United States to prove its commitment to its own values and to win a key battle in the strategic competition with China.
Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s prime minister-in-waiting, emerged from more than a decade of wrongful imprisonment last year and joined forces with his jailer Mahathir Mohamad to toss out Najib Razak, whose tenure as Malaysia’s leader broke records for corruption and authoritarian tendencies. Overcoming rigged elections, the Mahathir-Anwar coalition peacefully took control of the government by promoting a platform based on ethnic diversity, reform, accountability and social justice.
The 93-year old Mahathir, now the prime minister, has promised to hand over the post to Anwar and step aside within two years. Pending his long-awaited turn in power, Anwar has been touring the world, urging support for a new type of government and politics in Malaysia and the region. He is baffled that the issue is not more of a priority here in Washington, he told me during an interview.
“I think you should look at the broader picture. We are democrats, we are true to the ideals of the United States,” Anwar said. “I’m proud to say the change is quite indigenous. But having said that, now having achieved some measure of success, you should support that.”
Anwar said the new Malaysian government is beset by challenges on all sides. Huge debt, empty public coffers and the burden placed on the government by the continuing saga surrounding Najib, whose corruption trial was delayed this week. Najib faces more than 40 charges, mostly related to his alleged involvement in the theft of $4.5 billion from a government fund he controlled called 1MDB.
The 1MDB scandal is so massive, it has sparked investigations into executives and officials in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, giving those governments motive to defend Najib, their longtime ally. The Chinese government is also heavily invested in Najib, having worked with him to strike huge infrastructure projects that the new government is halting or investigating because of predatory terms and even more alleged corruption.
Mahathir is already realigning Malaysia’s relations with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; he shut down a Saudi-funded anti-terrorism center and is pulling Malaysian troops out of Saudi Arabia because of the conflict in Yemen. Mahathir has been more cautious about criticizing China publicly.
Anwar has no problem criticizing China on one huge issue: the Chinese Communist Party’s internment of up to two million Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in “re-education camps” in Xinjiang province without cause or due process.
“China must explain,” he said. “I think this is a tragedy not only for the Uighurs but also for the Muslim world. You can’t say one million people are all perpetrators of terror. The problem is most countries are quite muted.”
Most Muslim countries can’t speak up to Beijing on behalf of the Muslim Uighurs because they have poor records of mistreating their own citizens, Anwar said.
“There’s a problem of governance and accountability in the Muslim world,” he said. “I think China would say, if [Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sissi] were to bring it up, ‘Why don’t you look in your own backyard.’ ”
At Canada’s Embassy on Monday night, Anwar gave his longer pitch for using democracy and capitalism mixed with social justice to push back on the current trend of rising nationalism, extremism and authoritarianism. He warned against authoritarians that use the “trappings of democracy” to lull the free world into complicity.
“The ambivalence of advanced democracies in light of these clear abuses of power along with the tacit approval of the corporate sector and other international institutions is quite distressing,” Anwar said during his speech, which was hosted by the National Endowment for Democracy. “The survival of autocrats and dictators is largely due to the tacit approval of the West. This is a fact not lost on the people suffering under these regimes.”
During our interview, Anwar criticized the inconsistency, contradiction and arrogance of U.S. foreign policy, going back decades but continuing to this day. He said the Malaysian people have watched U.S. presidents from Bill Clinton to Donald Trump support autocratic rulers while paying only occasional attention to human rights and democratic values.
What Malaysia needs from the West right now, according to Anwar, is not public interference but, rather, substantive support: more development assistance, more investment, more security cooperation, more training, and more help with good governance, justice and accountability to help settle the past and move on to the future.
A truly democratic Malaysia might not always align with U.S. policy. Some in Washington are concerned about Anwar’s closeness to Islamist leaders in Turkey and Qatar. Mahathir’s government has closer relations with Hamas than Israel.
but there’s a reason autocratic regimes such as China and Saudi Arabia still ally themselves with those forces inside Malaysia who want it to turn back to authoritarianism. Their interests are aligned — and opposed to ours.
The United States must support those who are trying to uphold the international system based on rule of law, open markets, human rights and democracy — because that system is what gives us the strategic advantage. Preserving it is the only way to preserve our own security, prosperity and freedom.
I asked Anwar what he thought about the fact that the forces of authoritarianism, nationalism and extremism are on the rise while the free and open societies seem to be losing.
“In Malaysia, we won,” he said with a smile. He then quickly added, “It’s not over.”

By Josh RoginColumnist
February 13
washington post

The Huawei, ZTE Security Threats To all but MALAYSIA

The U.S. House Intelligence Committee reported in 2012 that Huawei and ZTE, a fellow Chinese telecom giant, can't be trusted to install phone and data networks because they could pose a threat to U.S. national security.

Huawei and ZTE are at that time already becoming global players in telecommunications equipment and mobile handsets, and the U.S isn't the only country uneasy over the security implications. Australia already  barred Huawei from a $37.5 billion project to build a national broadband network.

but that was 2012. 

2019 the  global fear towards China become a phenomenon, from their  5G technologies, BIR foreign policies and to a man-made island in SEA.

February 2019 The head of Britain's foreign intelligence service has warned the country against relying on a monopoly provider of equipment in new HUAWEI 5G mobile networks which is China. 

Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecoms equipment, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government.

Several of Britain's Five Eyes intelligence-sharing allies - the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - have already put restrictions on the company's access to their markets, citing concerns its equipment could be used by Beijing for spying.

In August 2018 , US President Donald Trump signed a bill barring government agencies from using certain telecommunications and surveillance products from Chinese suppliers, including Huawei.

Policymakers in Australia and New Zealand followed Washington's lead and later banned the technology giant from taking part in the rollout of 5G infrastructure in their respective countries.

Canada has not announced a bar on Huawei, but Ottawa is reportedly studying the security implications of allowing the Chinese company access to a new mobile infrastructure network.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in January 2019 that Germany needed guarantees that China's Huawei Technologies would not hand over data to the Chinese state before the telecoms equipment supplier can participate in building its 5G network.

An upgrade to existing 4G mobile technology, 5G is expected to deliver enhanced speed and security to internet users, enabling much faster data download and upload speeds, wider coverage and new types of machine-to-machine communication.

Most countries are unlikely to roll out the technology before 2020, according to a recent study by the US-based Eurasia Group consultancy firm, but China is pushing ahead with efforts to launch its 5G network this year.

But today, 18 February 2019, about  15 hours ago , the British Intelligent said that Huawei 5G is a manageable risk,  in fact, they "had never found evidence of malicious Chinese state cyber activity through Huawei” and that any “assertions that any Chinese technology in any part of a 5G network represents an unacceptable risk are nonsense”. 

It is a serious blow to US efforts to persuade allies to ban the Chinese supplier from high-speed telecommunications systems. 

The UK conclusion stands in contrast to Australia and New Zealand — also Five Eyes members — which last year banned or blocked telecoms providers from using Huawei equipment in 5G networks.  

Other European intelligence officials are also concerned about giving Huawei access to 5G networks. But while nations like France and Germany advise caution, they are unlikely to call for an outright ban.

Nevertheless, we ,  Malaysia never fears anybody to do spying on us. 

Malaysia Government, against all odds, decided that telecommunications giant Huawei is still in contention to be the first to set up a 5G network in Malaysia, despite some Western nations accusing Huawei of espionage and banning equipment manufactured by the company. Until there’s proof of the allegations from the West regarding Huawei’s ‘shady’ practices, we in the Ministry are neutral on who can and cannot set up the 5G network in Malaysia.

 It was supposed to be the pioneer in setting up a 5G network in Malaysia, with Putrajaya and Cyberjaya chosen by the ministry as the testing grounds.

The plan is still for Putrajaya and Cyberjaya to roll out the 5G network by this year, and as long as there is no concrete evidence to support what the United States is claiming, our stand is neutral. Said the Ministry rep.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad previously said Malaysia would not make decisions regarding Huawei’s involvement simply by following the lead of other countries.

Bravo !

'China Dream' and 'One Belt, One Road' foreign policy plan

Southeast Asian countries are cautious about China's rise and its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), according to a new policy survey.

The survey, which was released on Monday by the Singapore-based ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, polled 1,008 respondents from all 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including people in government, academic and business communities, civil society and the media.

China was seen by 73 percent of the respondents as having the greatest economic influence in the region and was also believed to have more clout politically and strategically than the United States.

But the people surveyed by the think-tank also expressed concern about Beijing's geostrategic ambitions.

Fewer than one in 10 saw China as "a benign and benevolent power", with nearly half saying Beijing possessed "an intent to turn Southeast Asia into its sphere of influence".

This result ... is a wake-up call for China to burnish its negative image across Southeast Asia despite Beijing's repeated assurance of its benign and peaceful rise," the report's authors wrote, according to Reuters news agency.

Some 70 percent said their governments "should be cautious in negotiating BRI projects to avoid getting into unsustainable financial debts with China," a view strongest held in Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Nearly half said Chinese President Xi Jinping's hallmark policy would bring ASEAN "closer into China's orbit", while a third said the project lacked transparency and 16 percent predicted it would fail.

Amid China's growing reach, Southeast Asia is increasingly sceptical of the US's commitment to the region as a strategic partner and source of security.

Six out of 10 respondents said US influence globally had deteriorated from a year ago and two-thirds believed the country's engagement with Southeast Asia had declined. About a third said they had little or no confidence in Washington as a strategic partner and provider of regional security.

"The conventional wisdom that China holds sway in the economic realm while the United States wields its influence in the political-strategic domain will ... need to be revisited in light of the survey results," the institute concluded.

Some Western governments have accused China of pulling countries into a debt trap with the Belt and Road's massive infrastructure projects, an accusation China has denied.

There was a call for ASEAN to play a more active role in Myanmar's Rohingya crisis, although a majority of the respondents sought mediation rather than diplomatic pressure.

In 2017, some 730,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh to escape a violent crackdown by Myanmar's security forces crackdown in the wake of attacks on military posts by members of the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army.

United Nations investigators have accused Myanmar's military of carrying out killings, gang rape and arson with "genocidal intent", an allegation the military has denied.

Pelupusan bot nelayan Vietnam ikut pekeliling - Maritim Malaysia

Proses pelupusan dua bot nelayan Vietnam yang dirampas Agensi Penguatkuasaan Maritim Malaysia (Maritim Malaysia) di Kudat baru-baru ini, dibuat berdasarkan pekeliling ditetapkan iaitu dengan cara ditenggelamkan untuk dijadikan tukun tiruan.

Timbalan Pengarah Operasi Maritim Negeri Sabah, Kepten Maritim Asmawati Mohd Tujeri, berkata berkata bot nelayan asing yang dilucut hak tidak dibenarkan sama sekali digunakan semula dan perlu dimusnahkan secara potong tanam atau ditenggelamkan.

Katanya, agensi itu juga melantik syarikat tempatan berpusat di Kudat untuk melaksanakan kerja pelupusan bot terbabit tanpa membabitkan sebarang kos.

“Maritim Malaysia di seluruh Malaysia telah melaksanakan pelupusan melalui kaedah ini sejak sekian lama. Kerja pembersihan dan pelupusan yang dijalankan tidak membabitkan sebarang peruntukan wang kerajaan dan ditanggung sepenuhnya pihak syarikat yang dilantik.

“Melalui pendekatan ini, Maritim Malaysia dapat menjimatkan sejumlah besar wang kerajaan yang perlu diperuntukkan untuk melaksanakan kerja pelupusan bot terbabit,” katanya menerusi kenyataan di sini, hari ini.

Ia sebagai menjawab kenyataan Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Makanan Sabah, Datuk Junz Wong, semalam berhubung pelupusan dua bot Vietnam terbabit yang didakwa dilakukan secara rundingan terus kepada dua syarikat, dipercayai proksi parti pembangkang tanpa pengetahuan pihak kementeriannya.

Wong dilaporkan berkata, dua syarikat itu tidak menuntut sebarang kos untuk kerja pelupusan kerana dipercayai memperoleh hasil dengan menjual semula aset bot termasuk enjin yang dianggar berharga RM50,000 sedangkan mahkamah mengarahkan agar kedua-dua bot kayu itu ditenggelamkan bersama semua aset termasuk enjin.

Asmawati berkata, agensi itu tidak menawarkan sebarang sebut harga bagi pelupusan bot terbabit kerana ia tidak membabitkan sebarang nilai kepada kerajaan.

“Maritim Malaysia ingin menegaskan bahawa tidak timbul isu pelupusan bot dilakukan secara diam-diam dengan tiada proses sebut harga dilaksanakan seperti digembar-gemburkan dalam media.

“Proses penenggelaman bot dilaksanakan setelah segala prosedur dipatuhi serta mendapat kelulusan agensi dan jabatan kerajaan seperti Jabatan Laut bagi mendapatkan posisi selamat bot ditenggelamkan dan Jabatan Alam Sekitar bagi menentukan bot dalam keadaan bersih daripada kotoran minyak yang boleh menyebabkan pencemaran laut.

“Proses penenggelaman bot di perairan Kudat ini akan dilaksanakan dengan disaksikan pegawai yang dilantik daripada agensi sendiri dengan melengkapkan Sijil Pelupusan (KEW.PA-23) dan Sijil Penyaksian Pemusnahan (KEW.PA 22) bagi diserahkan kepada ibu pejabat untuk direkod dan dimaklumkan kepada Perbendaharaan,” katanya.

No irregularities in disposing vessels

The Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has always conducted its operations and disposal of seized vessels according to procedures and regulations.

MMEA deputy director of opera­tions Capt Asmawati Mohd Tujeri refuted the allegation by Sabah Agriculture and Food Industries Minister Datuk Junz Wong that the process of disposing the vessels was not done in a proper manner.

Wong had questioned why tenders were not opened for the sinking of seized vessels.

“All this while, MMEA arrests suspects and after the legal process is concluded, boats belonging to convicted offenders would be stripped and ownership transferred to the state government,” Capt Asmawati said in a statement.

Wong had also highlighted that MMEA did not inform his ministry about the disposal process before it was carried out.

On the two Vietnamese fishing vessels seized off Kudat, Capt Asmawati said the disposal process was done according to the law.

“Our method is to sink the boats and turn them into artificial reefs, not a single seized boat is allowed to be reused in any way,” she said adding the companies in charge of sinking the boats were local and based in Kudat.

“They did this at a zero cost so there is no issue of opening tenders, no government funds were involved in these operations,” he said.

She said agencies including the Fisheries Department and Environmental Department will be on site to witness and monitor the procedure and ensure that the vessels are sunk at appropriate locations without polluting the sea.

Navy to strengthen assets in Sabah, Sarawak

SANDAKAN: Commander of Naval Area 2 (PANGWILLA 2), Rear Admiral Dato Ganesh Navaratnam handed over his position as Commander of Royal Malaysian Navy’s Naval Area 2 (MAWILLA 2) to Deputy Commander, Captain Azeman Yusoff at Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Sandakan base here, yesterday.

The historic moment was witnessed and graced by Commander of Eastern Fleet, Admiral Abdul Rahman Ayob. His arrival was accorded a salute by Kumpulan Kawalan Kehormatan MAWILLA 2.

The ceremony was also attended by all RMN Sandakan base personnel, Commanding Officers under MAWILLA 2 from KD Sri Semporna and KD Sri Tawau, as well as the Armed Force Charity Body of MAWILLA 2.

Speaking at the ceremony, Abdul Rahman thanked Ganesh for his contribution and service throughout his six months as PANGWILLA 2.

He said although the time was brief, Ganesh had made several changes and improvement particularly in increasing effectiveness of operations in MAWILLA 2.

He said that the initiative to increase RMN assets, especially ships that were added to MAWILLA 2 from the Eastern Fleet, had managed to increase the readiness of MAWILLA 2 in keeping the East Coast of Sabah safe.

Abdul Rahman then said that there was a plan to move two ships from New Generation Patrol Vessel (NGPV) to the Eastern Fleet – KD Perak and KD Terengganu – currently in RMN Tanjung Gelang, Kuantan.

He said that the addition of the ships was to strengthen RMN’s assets in Sabah and Sarawak, and it was expected to be done end of this year or early next year.

He added that RMN was also expecting to receive four ships from Littoral Mission Ship (LMS) which were now still in the process of being completed.

Borneo Post 

January 3, 2019, Thursday at 12:03 AM