Despite being generally friendly regional neighbours, Malaysia could be on the receiving end of China’s irritation by reportedly inviting the United States to fly spy planes out of Malaysian airspace in Sabah.
Analysts told Maritime Security Asia that US reconnaisance flights into the southern rim of the South China Sea – launched from East Malaysian airstrips – could intensify China’s anger at US surveillance of the strategic area and the disputed islands in it.
Last week, US chief of naval operations Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert, told a forum in Washington DC that the Malaysian government’s reent offer to allow P-8 Poseidon aircraft to fly out of the country’s most eastern area would give the United States more proximity to the South China Sea.
The Malaysian government has not confirmed whether or not it made the offer to the United States.
Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussein was asked at a news conference whether permission had been given for “US fighters” to fly out of East Malaysia. He replied, “That is not true,” although he was not subsequently asked about US surveillance flights.
A senior Asian diplomat familiar with the matter says Malaysia and the US have been in negotiations over the use of an air base in Sabah, from which P-8 Poseidon flights can be staged. The diplomat declined to be named in the Maritime Security Asia due to the secrecy of the matter.
Unlike neighbours the Philippines and Vietnam, who have heatedly contested the sovereignty of islands in the South China Sea with the Chinese government, Malaysia has warm diplomatic relations with China. However, Malaysia also has its own territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
