KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia will send a protest note to the Philippines over its move to claim Malaysian territories, including parts of the South China Sea, through two laws passed by Manila last week.
Deputy foreign minister Mohamad Alamin said Wisma Putra had reviewed the two pieces of legislation and local legal experts found that the boundaries drawn overlap with Malaysia’s boundaries established under international law in the 1970s.
“We will send a protest note to the Philippines today,” Mohamad said in his winding-up speech of the Supply Bill 2025 in the Dewan Rakyat.
“We are committed to defending our sovereignty and that of Sabah, too,” he said.
Last week, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr signed two laws extending the country’s maritime territories and right to resources, including in the South China Sea.
The Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act define the Philippines’s maritime entitlements and set designated sea lanes and air routes to reinforce sovereignty and maritime rights under international law.
Marcos hailed the laws as a demonstration of the Philippines’ commitment to uphold an international rules-based order and protect its rights to exploit resources peacefully in its exclusive economic zone.
The move has courted objection from China, saying it infringes on Chinese territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea.
China had also released its own map last year claiming the entire South China Sea belonged to them. This saw many countries, including Malaysia, protesting against it.
