Malaysia summoned the heads of the US and Australian missions in protest over spying allegations, its foreign minister said, as a row over a vast US-led surveillance network deepened in Asia.
China and Indonesia have already demanded explanations from Australia over reports that Canberra's missions were being used to monitor phone calls and collect data as part of American surveillance.
The dispute erupted in the region this week following a story in the Sydney Morning Herald, which reported a top-secret map leaked by fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden that showed 90 US surveillance facilities at diplomatic missions worldwide, including in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.
AAP reports the widespread reports of US National Security Agency spying based on leaks by Edward Snowden, including that the agency was monitoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone, have already sparked a major transatlantic rift.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said his country on Friday summoned the US and Australian mission heads to "hand over a protest note in response to the alleged spying activities carried out by the two embassies in Kuala Lumpur".
The US was represented by its deputy mission chief, Lee McClenny, because the ambassador was out of town, the minister said in a statement, without giving details of what transpired.
