(Eagle News) — While there can be “misunderstandings and conflicts” between the two nations, the Philippines and Malaysia have always been able to “overcome such conflicts” and “retain a very high level of friendship,”  Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday, March 7.

Mahathir, who is on official visit to the Philippines, issued the statement after he gave a television interview in which he said the host country had no claim over Sabah, which Malaysia annexed after its independence from the United Kingdom in 1963.

The Philippines’ Spokesperson Salvador Panelo later said in a press conference that the Philippines did have a claim over the territory.

“We expect to do this, Malaysia expects to be friendly with the Philippines all the time, and also we expect that we can extend any help we may be able to extend to resolve some of the problems faced in the south of the Philippine islands, in Mindanao,” Mahathir said during a state banquet hosted by President Rodrigo Duterte in his honor in the Malacañang Palace in Manila.

Malaysia served as third-party facilitator in the Philippine government’s peace talks with the then-rebel group Moro Islamic Liberation Front, many of whose members have now been appointed to the newly installed Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao’s interim government, the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.

The BARMM, which has more autonomy, replaced the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao when the Bangsamoro Organic Law was ratified in February.

“We know that such insurgencies only weaken nations. Only peace brings about wealth and prosperity…So to the extent we can be useful we are always ready to work with our neighbors in order to resolve problems which in a way affect us as well,” Mahathir said.

This is Mahathir’s first visit to the Philippines after he was reelected as Malaysia’s leader in 2018.