South China Sea: ASEAN Emphasises The Need For Defence Diplomacy Engagement

GEORGE TOWN, Feb 26 (Bernama) -- ASEAN has underscored the importance of continuous engagement in defence diplomacy, emphasising the need to uphold international law when addressing complex territorial conflicts including the South China Sea, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

As the ASEAN Chair for 2025, he said Malaysia highlighted the critical role of maintaining multilateral maritime cooperation while emphasising the adherence to international law, especially the law of the sea.

"We do have multilateral maritime cooperation that will continue. However, at the same time we stress the need for every country, be it an ASEAN member state or not, to always uphold international laws and laws of the sea.

"There are already many military maritime exercises between ASEAN countries and outside of ASEAN countries, but bear in mind that we want to ensure there should not be an escalation of conflict," he told a press conference after chairing the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting Retreat (ADMM Retreat) 2025 here today.

He also pointed out that diplomacy would also be the solution to addressing the Myanmar issue, as guided by the heads of the ASEAN government.

Mohamed Khaled also brought attention to the need for greater focus on the protection of undersea cable infrastructure, following the incident of underwater power cables being severed in the Baltic Sea.

He stressed that it is time for ASEAN to prioritise the defence of undersea cables in the region, incorporating this issue within the broader ADMM.

Besides that, he also confirmed that the Russian Security Council had reached out to Malaysia, requesting meetings with him and some other top Malaysian officials.

It was reported that the Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu has embarked on a working visit to Indonesia and Malaysia on Feb 24 to 28 to discuss security and defence issues.

Over 150 delegates from ASEAN member states, including Timor-Leste and the ASEAN Secretariat, are expected to attend the retreat, which is being held in conjunction with Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship 2025 under the theme Inclusivity and Sustainability.

Malaysia will host over 300 ASEAN-related meetings, programmes and summits throughout the year. The country earlier chaired ASEAN in 1977, 1997, 2005, and 2015.

-- BERNAMA