“People seem to think that choosing a side will be an easy decision or easy outcome for us. But choosing a side actually changes the status quo in the region, and it spurs geopolitical tensions,” said Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia analyst Angeline Tan.
“So, that’s not going to be in Malaysia’s interest, and I don’t think it’ll be in the interest of regional stability either,” she said in an interview discussing Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Malaysia this week as part of a regional tour including Vietnam and Cambodia, amid the tariff war between the US and China.
She said while it may appear that Malaysia is leaning towards China, it does not necessarily mean the country is “pro-China”.
“Being China-friendly is not necessarily the same as pro-China,” she noted, adding the close ties between the two nations should not be seen as a political or strategic alignment.
“China’s economic, political and cultural relationship with Malaysia is a (historical) fact. It is something that is organic and natural,” Tan said, adding that China and Southeast Asia have long shared “a deep and fruitful partnership”.
“This trip by Xi is a reflection of Beijing’s efforts to strengthen its ‘neighbourhood diplomacy’, which has been important to China’s foreign policy since the early 2000s,” she added.
Malaysia has indeed been a valuable partner for China over the past five decades. It was the first Asean nation to establish diplomatic ties with China in 1974, during the height of the Cold War.
It also brought China into Asean-based multilateral processes in the early 1990s, kickstarting the China-Asean Dialogue. Malaysia has also been a partner of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and an early supporter of its Global Development Initiative.
Policy of neutrality
Despite its close ties with China, Malaysia has a decades-old policy of neutrality when it comes to the great power competition between superpowers like the US, Russia, and China.
This approach is based on Asean’s Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (Zopfan) declaration which Malaysia was a signatory to when it was adopted in 1971.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said China has been a “rational, strong and reliable partner” for Malaysia, who will remain an “unwavering friend to China”.
“Since the establishment of diplomatic relations over 50 years ago, Malaysia-China ties have grown broad in scope and deep in substance.
“China remains our most significant trading partner, its presence felt in the very arteries of our development – from the flow of goods and ideas to the transformation of our energy, infrastructure and innovation,” he said during the state banquet in Xi’s honour on Wednesday.
China has been Malaysia’s largest trade partner for 16 consecutive years, with the value of last year’s total exports and imports reaching about RM480 billion, according to official data.
In 2024, Malaysia welcomed 3.29 million tourists from China, a significant rise from 1.47 million in 2023, driven by the introduction of a 30-day visa-free policy for Chinese nationals in December 2023 and enhanced flight connectivity between the two countries.
During Xi’s visit, the two countries exchanged a total of 31 memoranda of understanding and bilateral agreements, spanning security, trade, infrastructure, digital economy, education, and cultural cooperation, highlighting further collaboration in various areas.