Australia reverses policy of ignoring Malaysia as an element in its defence - Reversal may (finally) lead to a better appreciation of Sabah's submarine base

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

  Australia has ignored Malaysia despite the importance of Sabah's submarine base             

         

As reported by the Malay Mail and Bernama:

Division 5 commander, Maj Gen Datuk Malek Razak Sulaiman said 3,670 armed forces personnel were involved in the exercise, 2,850 from Malaysia, 690 from the US, and 130 from Australia.

He said that this year’s exercise involved troops from Australia even though Keris Strike started off as a bilateral annual exercise between Malaysia and the US, with two-way defence cooperation elements between the Malaysian Armed Forces and the US Army.

Australian High Commission in Malaysia Defence Attache Col Corey Shillabeer shared that the military relationship between Malaysia and Australia was very deep, and Keris Strike was important to deepen the long standing relationship while learning from each other.

“We are always more when we work together, we also have a lot to learn from our Malaysian friends. Sabah is a unique and difficult terrain to exercise in, and we learn more from working together,” he said.

Shillabeer also thanked Malaysia and the US for inviting them to join Keris Strike for the first time, and believed the exercise will benefit the three country involved especially in strengthening partnerships between the three armies.

This seems to be reversal of the Australian  policy of  ignoring Malaysia as part of its overall defence strategy. It is noted that the change coincides with Anwar Ibrahim (finally) assuming power. One hopes that the reversal may (finally) lead to a better appreciation of Sabah's submarine base.

TO BE READ WITH 

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

China reaches into Malaysia,ASEAN to build defence ties while Australia ignores Mahathir's attempts to contain China-Is the Anwar obsession , Mahathir hatred,getting in the way?

by Ganesh Sahathevan
Australia has shown little interest in backing Mahathir as he pushes back against China,despite the Five Nation Defence Pact:
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1678646/china-free-to-move-but-no-battleships-in-south-china-sea-dr-m-says

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today brushed off China’s “sovereign claim” over a disputed chain of islands in the South China Sea, stating the country has the right to go “wherever they wanted to”. However Dr Mahathir further explained to British national broadcaster BBC that Malaysia’s policy is not to have battleships and warships in the South China Sea as tensions in the region will escalate into armed conflict and subsequently war if vessels are stationed in the area.

“I explained that China has the right to go wherever they want to go but please don’t check on ships or prevent ships on passing through the straits of Malacca and the South China Sea, that is all we want,” he told HARDtalk programme host Zeinab Badawi.


Meanwhile China is doing all it can to build a new defence pact with Malaysia, and other ASEAN countries:

RT Echinanews "#China and #ASEAN launch maritime drill in Zhanjiang. The joint drill is the first of its kind held between China and ASEAN countries. "

 

3:08 PM - 22 Oct 2018 

To be read with:

Australia attacks Mahathir, backs Anwar for PM: Australian interference in Malaysian elections discovered by former IGP Rahim Noor in 1994

http://realpolitikasia.blogspot.com/2018/09/australia-attacks-mahathir-backs-anwar.html

Malaysian Government has no objection to AUKUS, "respects the right of all nations to increase their respective defence capacity building" - Penny Wong should now offer Australian assistance to enhance the capabilities of her home state Sabah's submarine base

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

Malaysia 's Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan has said in the Malaysian Parliament  in response to questions about Aukus:

“To ensure the safety and sovereignty of the country as well as the region’s stability, Malaysia urges all quarters in or outside of Aukus not to take part in any provocative activities that can disturb the region’s peace and safety.”

“However, Malaysia respects the right of all nations to increase their respective defence capacity building....."

Australian's  Foreign Minister Penny Wong who is from Sabah, home of Malaysia's submarine fleet, should now build on the Malaysian Government's concession and offer Australian assistance to enhance the capabilities of that base.

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Penny Wong's special connection to Sabah best demonstrated by Australian Government led investment in Sabah's Royal Malaysian Navy submarine base - AUKUS , FPDA provide the basis

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

 

  Penny Wong and brother James, of her recently
acknowledged extended family in Sabah

In 2015 Malaysia's Minister for Defence Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn said:

“I am of the opinion that the preparedness of (the Sepanggar submarine)  base must be improved with an advanced Air Defence System to overcome any challenges which might come this way.

“In line with technological advancements, the navy is thinking of new plans, including overcoming scenarios of the current threat in the South China Sea and the waters around East Sabah,”

The Sepanggar  base is home to Malaysia's two diesel electric submarines, the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and the KD Tun Razak and it  of interest to China's Peoples' Liberation Army. As China analyst Geoff Wade observed  in 2015: 

In a quiet but undoubtedly significant event, Admiral Wu Shengli (吴胜利), commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy and a member of the PRC’s Central Military Commission recently visited Malaysia with an entourage of 10 senior officials. During his visit, Admiral Wu secured agreement from the Malaysian Navy for the ships of the PLA Navy to use the port of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo as a ‘stopover location’ to ‘strengthen defence ties between the two countries’.

Access to a northern Borneo port has long been an ambition of the PLA Navy in its efforts to expand control in the South China Sea. Two years ago, in a Strategist posting entitled Xi Jinping and the Sabah enigma, I noted how Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Sabah (subsequently aborted) reflected PRC efforts to increase links with that key region of northern Borneo. Chinese naval personnel first visited Kota Kinabalu in August 2013.

In the light of these visits and increasing PRC maritime assertiveness, only the most innocent would, on observing the location of Darwin between the South China Sea and the Indian and South Pacific Oceans, conclude that the PLA Navy would not likewise be interested in securing access to and facilities in the port of Darwin. Particularly if it was under the control of a Chinese enterprise for the coming century.

Indeed, by 2017 PLA submarines were calling at Sepanggar. Malaysia's NST reported in that year: 

A Chinese submarine has docked in Malaysia, the second such visit to the Southeast Asian country this year, as western powers fret over China’s expanding reach in the South China Sea.

The Royal Malaysian Navy confirmed the visit by the Chinese submarine, which docked at the Sepanggar naval base in the state of Sabah in Borneo between Friday and Monday.

Australia's new Foreign Minister Penny Wong claims a special relationship with Sabah, for she was born there. There have been many reports published by Australia's media outlets celebrating her recent return to Sabah as Foreign Minister of Australia, which Australian media and Wong say heralds a new era in Malaysia-Australia relations. 

Malaysia's Defence Minister Hishamuddin has said that facilities at the Sepanggar base need improvement and a new era born of that special relationship can be cemented by  Wong persuading her Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, to have the Australian Government lead investment into  Sepanggar and other naval facilities in Sabah.

The Australian Government is party to the 50 year old Five Power Defence Agreement (FPDA) to which Malaysia is also a party,  and the more recent AUKUS nuclear submarine pact. The South China Sea is a subject  of common interest to both agreements, and that provides the Australian Government with a policy basis for the types of investment initiative described above. 

EN D

Penny Wong's special connection to Sabah best demonstrated by Australian Government led investment in Sabah's Royal Malaysian Navy submarine base - AUKUS , FPDA provide the basis

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

 

  Penny Wong and brother James, of her recently
acknowledged extended family in Sabah

In 2015 Malaysia's Minister for Defence Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn said:

“I am of the opinion that the preparedness of (the Sepanggar submarine)  base must be improved with an advanced Air Defence System to overcome any challenges which might come this way.

“In line with technological advancements, the navy is thinking of new plans, including overcoming scenarios of the current threat in the South China Sea and the waters around East Sabah,”

The Sepanggar  base is home to Malaysia's two diesel electric submarines, the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman and the KD Tun Razak and it  of interest to China's Peoples' Liberation Army. As China analyst Geoff Wade observed  in 2015: 

In a quiet but undoubtedly significant event, Admiral Wu Shengli (吴胜利), commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy and a member of the PRC’s Central Military Commission recently visited Malaysia with an entourage of 10 senior officials. During his visit, Admiral Wu secured agreement from the Malaysian Navy for the ships of the PLA Navy to use the port of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo as a ‘stopover location’ to ‘strengthen defence ties between the two countries’.

Access to a northern Borneo port has long been an ambition of the PLA Navy in its efforts to expand control in the South China Sea. Two years ago, in a Strategist posting entitled Xi Jinping and the Sabah enigma, I noted how Xi Jinping’s planned visit to Sabah (subsequently aborted) reflected PRC efforts to increase links with that key region of northern Borneo. Chinese naval personnel first visited Kota Kinabalu in August 2013.

In the light of these visits and increasing PRC maritime assertiveness, only the most innocent would, on observing the location of Darwin between the South China Sea and the Indian and South Pacific Oceans, conclude that the PLA Navy would not likewise be interested in securing access to and facilities in the port of Darwin. Particularly if it was under the control of a Chinese enterprise for the coming century.

Indeed, by 2017 PLA submarines were calling at Sepanggar. Malaysia's NST reported in that year: 

A Chinese submarine has docked in Malaysia, the second such visit to the Southeast Asian country this year, as western powers fret over China’s expanding reach in the South China Sea.

The Royal Malaysian Navy confirmed the visit by the Chinese submarine, which docked at the Sepanggar naval base in the state of Sabah in Borneo between Friday and Monday.

Australia's new Foreign Minister Penny Wong claims a special relationship with Sabah, for she was born there. There have been many reports published by Australia's media outlets celebrating her recent return to Sabah as Foreign Minister of Australia, which Australian media and Wong say heralds a new era in Malaysia-Australia relations. 

Malaysia's Defence Minister Hishamuddin has said that facilities at the Sepanggar base need improvement and a new era born of that special relationship can be cemented by  Wong persuading her Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, to have the Australian Government lead investment into  Sepanggar and other naval facilities in Sabah.

The Australian Government is party to the 50 year old Five Power Defence Agreement (FPDA) to which Malaysia is also a party,  and the more recent AUKUS nuclear submarine pact. The South China Sea is a subject  of common interest to both agreements, and that provides the Australian Government with a policy basis for the types of investment initiative described above. 

EN D

While in Malaysia Sabah born Australian FM Penny Wong downplays AUKUS, says nothing about the Malaysian Navy's submarine base in Sabah, and China's interest in it

 by Ganesh Sahathevan 

                    HMAS Dechaineux berthed at Sepanggar in Sabah on 1 May 2013 for the first visit of an                                        Australian submarine to this port. 

The Guardian (and others) reported: 

Malaysia’s foreign minister, Saifuddin Abdullah, has said that his country’s concerns about the Aukus nuclear submarine pact remain unchanged, after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday with his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong.

Saifuddin told reporters he communicated Malaysia’s ongoing concern about the security deal between Australia, the UK and the US during a “very candid” discussion with Wong on her first visit to the Malaysian capital as Australia’s foreign minister.

Regional objections to Australia’s planned acquisition of nuclear-propelled submarines surfaced almost immediately after Aukus was unveiled by Joe Biden, Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison.

What Senator Wong, who makes much of her connections to the Malaysian state of Sabah, and Malaysia's Saifuddin have both ignored is the fact that the UK, Australia and Malaysia are all parties to the 50 year old  Five Power Defence Agreement. Also ignored is the issue of China's access to Sabah's submarine base. 

One would think that AUKUS and the FDPA  combined would bring the Sabah submarine base into greater significance in Malaysia-Australia discussions, but apparently not.

TO BE READ WITH 

Chinese sub docks at Malaysian port for second time this year
By Reuters - September 13, 2017 @ 10:43pm


(File pix) RMN chief Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said it was standard international procedure to welcome visits by foreign navy vessels, “based on each nation’s request and upon diplomatic clearance.”


KUALA LUMPUR: A Chinese submarine has docked in Malaysia, the second such visit to the Southeast Asian country this year, as western powers fret over China’s expanding reach in the South China Sea.

China claims nearly all the South China Sea, through which an estimated $3 trillion in international trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also have claims.

Tensions between China and Malaysia over their overlapping claims, however, appear to have eased after Malaysia agreed in November to buy four Chinese naval vessels and pledged with Beijing to handle South China Sea disputes bilaterally.

The Royal Malaysian Navy confirmed the visit by the Chinese submarine, which docked at the Sepanggar naval base in the state of Sabah in Borneo between Friday and Monday.


RMN chief Admiral Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin said it was standard international procedure to welcome visits by foreign navy vessels, “based on each nation’s request and upon diplomatic clearance.”


“This is part of our efforts to enhance defence diplomacy and strengthening bilateral relations,” he told Reuters.


The submarine was escorted by a surface ship from the PLA Navy and was returning to China after conducting escort missions in the Gulf of Aden, according to defence magazine Jane’s 360, which first reported the submarine’s docking.

In January, a Chinese submarine docked in Sepanggar, only the second confirmed visit of a Chinese submarine to a foreign port, according to state media.

Chinese warships have also been calling at ports in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, unnerving regional rival India. --Reuters

Obama's legacy: Chinese control of the South China Sea,Strait Of Malacca and ensuing instability

by Ganesh Sahathevan 


When China ignored the Law Of The Sea Tribunal's decision against it, Obama issued this "sharp" rebuke to the Chinese leadership:


"Part of what I’ve tried to communicate to President Xi (Jinping) is that the United States arrives at its power, in part, by restraining itself," said Obama in a CNN interview. "You know, when we bind ourselves to a bunch of international norms and rules, it’s not because we have to, it’s because we recognize that, over the long-term, building a strong international order is in our interest. And, I think, over the long-term, it will be in China’s interests, as well."


Clearly, this had little impact on the Chinese who having tested the Obama Administration over the eight years, understood that they could do whatever they liked.This Reuters report from October 2015 was probably confirmation of what the Chinese would have concluded  as far back as 2013:

The U.S. naval challenge to China's territorial assertiveness in the South China Sea this week came after months of frustration within the Pentagon at what some defense officials saw as unnecessary delays by the White House and State Department in approving the mission.

Washington's caution also caused disquiet among some military officials in Japan and the Philippines, both U.S. security allies, feeding concerns that China's ambitions in the South China Sea would go unchecked.

The Pentagon and U.S. military officials had been ready for months to carry out patrols, but ran into "repeated stalling" from the White House and State Department, said one U.S. defense official, who requested anonymity.

Since China's land reclamation began in December 2013, it had reclaimed more than 2,900 acres (1,170 hectares) of land as of June, the Pentagon said in a recent report. China had reclaimed 17 times more land than the other claimants combined over the past 40 years, it added.

Pressure for action from U.S. allies in the region grew after China's island-building became front-page news this year following the release of high-resolution satellite images that showed the scale of the work.

The consequences of Obama's actions are easy to see, for the Chinese no longer feel the  need to conceal their actions.

This Pentagon map illustrates what China wants,or claims it needs.

This is what China has managed to acquire unhindered.

Among China's acquisitions are  the Strait of Malacca ports in Malaysia ,which are supposed to be for trade. A World Bank study commissioned by the Malaysian government in 2015  showed a new port on Malaysia's west coast is not necessary, as existing facilities have yet to reach capacity. That these port's are likely to be bases for the Chinese Navy and other armed forces seems likely.

China has also gained access to Kota Kinabalu, a crucial dock in Sabah close to the disputed Spratly Islands, where Beijing's construction activities have been a source of diplomatic strife in the region.

That Kota Kinabalu Port is also the proposed site for Malaysia 's Sepanngar  Submarine Hangar  seems not to have bothered anyone, except maybe the Filipinos.

Malaysia submarine base in Sepanggar, Sabah

And then came this feat, aptly titled "Rising From The Shallows" by the South China Morning Post, which the Chinese managed to pull-off without being really bothered by the Obama administration:

Quite an achievement, given American supremacy in the region for more than 70 years,a supremacy well accepted by all littoral states.That stability is now gone and that is Obama's legacy.

END