Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced Monday, after returning from a visit to China last week, that Kuala Lumpur is ready to hold negotiations with Beijing over the South China Sea to guarantee its rights to explore for oil and gas in the disputed area.

The prime minister of the Southeast Asian country said the "sensitive" issue was raised during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping .

Malaysia's Petronas owns the largest oil platform in the disputed region and is carrying out several exploration projects.

"I emphasized that we, as a small country, need resources such as oil and gas, and we must continue" exploration projects, Ibrahim said in a speech to the cabinet staff.

"But if the condition is to hold negotiations, we are ready to negotiate," he added.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, despite a court ruling in The Hague confirming that its claims have no legal basis.

The South China Sea is a strategic corridor in world trade.

Many neighboring countries claim parts of this maritime area, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.

In parallel with emphasizing its claims in the South China Sea, the Chinese authorities have in the past few years built artificial islands that include a number of facilities, airstrips and military airports.

A number of countries in the region accused Chinese ships of harassing their fishing vessels.