Link is broken. This is an alternative link to the Nikkei article:
I personally despise Dr Mahathir, he is still a hardcore Sinophobic racist. This guy speaks one thing to the world and then does another thing at home, a typical hypocrite. But for this current article, I do agree with his view. Maybe he had long accepted that China is already unstoppable in Asia. Mahathir was right, China was relatively passive with its SCS claims as long as nobody heats up the SCS dispute. Every SEA nation that has a dispute with China in the SCS can still enjoy access to it as long as they keep things cordial and peaceful. Duterte-era Philippines had some frictions with China, but there were no aggressive coastguard actions on both sides on the levels we see today. Filipino fishermen could still access their claimed waters with minimal interference from China. Now, they could not access them at all without constant CCG harassment. The more Marcos Jr. pushes, the more the Philippines loses. If his big brother decides to intervene, then the SCS will instantly become a warzone and the Filipinos will truly lose safe access. There are no victory scenarios for the PH in escalation.
Nikkei tries to refute Mahathir's statement by saying that the Malaysian government does not accept China's claim in the SCS. But that is the same with all claimants in the SCS. Nobody accepts each other's claims, but nobody is gonna go to war about it. Officially that's what they have to do. But unofficially, the SCS is mostly open for access for everyone, except for the troublemakers. Nikkei wants to tell its readers that standing up to China is more important than peaceful ambiguity. I would remind Nikkei that Japan has serious maritime disputes with Russia, China, and the Two Koreas. Should Japan go to war with all of them, because its important to stand up for your claims?
