TOKYO -- A 60-year-old dispute over the sovereignty of Sabah, Malaysia's second largest state, has recently reignited, creating tensions between Kuala Lumpur and Manila and adding a further complication to the many sovereignty issues in the South China Sea.
It began as a diplomatic spat on Twitter. "Sabah is not in Malaysia," Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. tweeted in July, replying to a message by the U.S. Embassy in Manila about donations to Filipinos repatriated from Sabah.