Malaysian premier says China's response over disputed map 'quite reassuring'

By Anadolu staff

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said that Beijing's response to the objection over a disputed map released by China last month is "quite reassuring."

Anwar said Beijing pledged that it will "not be aggressive."

In an interview with Bloomberg TV in New York city on Friday, Anwar said he discussed the map issue with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

He met Li twice, first in Indonesia during a regional summit and then in China on the sidelines of the China-ASEAN Fair.

Beijing will continue to negotiate competing territorial claims, Li told Anwar, according to the Malaysian prime minister.

"The response by Premier Li Qiang is quite reassuring. Saying that yes, we (China) did our claims and may go with ours with other countries but we will not be aggressive, we will continue to negotiate and seek an amicable resolution to this problem," Anwar said.

In a separate interview with CNN, Anwar said the Chinese premier's response was "clear and categorical."

"And at least for Malaysia, I'm extremely satisfied," he added.

China last month released what it called "China Standard Map Edition 2023," triggering reactions from its neighbors including Vietnam, India, Malaysia and the Philippines who rejected it.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir last month said that the map encompasses Malaysia’s maritime areas and the map “has no binding effect on Malaysia.

According to Kuala Lumpur, China’s new claims encroach upon Malaysia’s maritime areas in Sabah and Sarawak states, based on the 1979 Malaysia map.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid