Countries involved and have interests in the South China Sea disputes need to convene discussions to jointly manage the waters by looking on the potential of marine resources that can be studied and developed together.

Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed said it was better for all the stakeholders to talk and work together to solve the issue, rather than making individual claims as China did.

“Malaysia also has a claim but we want to resolve it by negotiating.

“Economic activities and all resources (in the South China Sea) need to be shared equally to ensure that it can be well-developed,” he told a media conference at the Sixth International Conference on the South China Sea organised by the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (Mima) today.

Also present were Mima chairman Ahmad Ramli Mohd Nor and director Chin Yoon Chin.

Nur Jazlan said this in response to China’s claim on almost the entirety of the resource-rich waters, which is an important shipping route with trade value of about US$5 trillion per year.

Malaysia, Brunei, Philippine, Taiwan and Vietnam also have competing claims on the region.

Nur Jazlan said joint management by the stakeholders would also need to focus on suitable measures to increase marine resources, especially fisheries, to ensure that the waters were not short of natural resources.

“What is the use of claiming the area individually when the marine resources are on the decline. It is better to discuss on efforts to increase the marine resources together,” he said.

The two-day conference, themed “Facing the future together in the South China Sea," would discuss five important topics related to the area, which is still in territorial and maritime disputes.

Among the issues to be addressed are the geopolitical changes and large-scale involvement of the region’s super power, Asean regionalism, information on maritime property management and promotion of regional prosperity through appropriate development.

Nur Jazlan said the conference would also discuss security control issues in the South China Sea area to prevent violent activities and cross-border crimes, including smuggling of drugs and firearms.

In July last year, the Permanent Court of Arbitration located at The Hague in the Netherlands ruled in favour of the Philippines, and decided that China had no historical claim rights over the disputed waters in the South China Sea.

The court also found that aggressive action and construction of Beijing's infrastructure in the overlapping region violated Philippine’s sovereignty.

However, China rejected the decision by calling it “ill-founded.”

- Bernama