15 November 2010 | CIL Distinguished Speaker Series / South China Sea Seminar Series

Overlapping Claims in the South China Sea:
The Malaysian Perspective

Introduction

The lecture discussed the issue of the overlapping claims in the South China Sea including a short assessment of the legal basis of the claims. The discussion also focused on the position adopted by China vis-à-vis the claims on the Spratlys and the Paracels, its naval skirmishes with Vietnam in 1974 and 1988 and the Mischief Reef incident involving China and the Philippines in 1995.

The lecture also touched on ASEAN’s efforts to promote a regional Code of Conduct on the South China Sea following the Mischief Reef incident and the subsequent failure to reach agreement on this initiative.

The signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) by ASEAN countries and China in November 2002 which can be considered a diplomatic triumph and has arguably contributed to the maintenance of peace and calm in the South China Sea was also discussed.

The lecture also further touched on China’s increasing militarisation and its recent assertive actions to raise its profile in the South China Sea which is causing concern among its neighbours.

Finally, the lecture discussed the Chinese objection to the Joint Submission of Malaysia and Vietnam to the Extended Continental Shelf and the options open to the two submitting countries to challenge the Chinese objection.

About the Speaker

After completing her legal studies at the Inns of Court in London, she joined the Judicial and Legal Service in February 1971 where she served in various capacities including magistrate, senior assistant registrar in the High Courts of Kuala Lumpur and Penang, legal officer with the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department, Director of the Legal Aid Bureau and Sessions Court Judge.

Prior to her appointment as Director-General, Dato’ Noor Farida held a number of key positions, including the Director of the Women and Development Programme, Human Resource and Development Group at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, headed the newly established Legal Division of the Ministry in 1993 and in 1996 was appointed the Under-Secretary of the newly formed Territorial and Maritime Division of the Foreign Ministry.

Between 2000 and 2007, she was the Ambassador of Malaysia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and was also concurrently appointed the Malaysian Co-Agent to the International Court of Justice for the Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan Case against Indonesia, and was the Malaysian Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (“OPCW”) which is based in the Hague. She was subsequently elected to the Chair of the 8th Conference of States Parties of the Chemical Weapons Convention in October 2003. Prior to this at the First Review Conference of the above Convention (April/May 2003), she was elected to chair the Drafting Group on the Political Declaration.

Dato’ Noor Farida was again appointed the Malaysian Co-Agent by the Government when Malaysia and Singapore agreed to submit the Pulau Batu Puteh/Pedra Branca dispute to the International Court of Justice.

Dato’ Noor Farida is currently the head of the Malaysian delegation to the Malaysia/Indonesia maritime boundaries negotiations.

Chairperson

Prof Tommy Koh
Chairman, CIL Governing Board
Ambassador-at-Large, MFA