China, Malaysia to set up S.China Sea dialogue mechanism

BEIJING, Sept 12 (Reuters) - China and Malaysia have agreed
to set up a joint dialogue mechanism for the disputed South
China Sea, the Chinese government's top diplomat said on
Thursday after meeting Malaysia's foreign minister.
Recent Chinese naval deployments in the strategic waterway,
through which more than $3.4 trillion worth of goods are
transported annually, have reignited tension with Vietnam and
the Philippines. Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have competing
claims in the South China Sea.
Malaysia had been critical of China's South China Sea
position, but has not been excessively outspoken recently,
especially after China pumped in billions of dollars into
infrastructure projects under its Belt and Road Initiative.
Malaysia regularly tracked Chinese naval and coastguard
vessels entering Malaysia's territorial waters, but China
respects Malaysia and had "not done anything that caused us
trouble, so far", Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu told Reuters
last month. Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi told a news conference with
Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah that this year,
tensions in the South China Sea had dropped.
Littoral states and China were committed to continue
appropriately handling the South China Sea issue and jointly
safeguard peace and stability there, said Wang, who is the
Chinese government's top diplomat.
"To this end, our two sides have agreed to set up a
bilateral consultation mechanism for maritime issues, a new
platform for dialogue and cooperation for both sides," he said.
Abdullah, who referred to Wang as "my brother", said the
mechanism would be led by the two countries' foreign ministries.
"Our officers will be discussing the details, but I think
this is one important outcome of the meeting today and also the
45 years of our diplomatic relations," he said.
China is debt-heavy Malaysia's biggest trade partner and the
countries have close cultural ties too.
In July, China and Malaysia resumed construction on a train
project in northern Malaysia, which is part of China's Belt and
Road plan, after a year-long suspension and following a rare
agreement to cut its cost by nearly a third, to about $11
billion.