THE EVOLUTION AND DYNAMICS OF MALAYSIA-CHINA RELATIONS TALK ORGANISED BY CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE UMS

KOTA KINABALU: Professor Dr. Lai Yew Meng, the Dean of the Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge & Language Learning, UMS to deliver a talk entitled Crouching Tiger, Ascending Dragon: The Evolution and Dynamics of Malaysia-China Relations. Dr. Lai research interest is in the field of Politics and International Studies. This is the 5^th series of the “Below the Wind Talk” organized by CI@UMS in 2020.

As a result of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), the talk was delivered via Cisco Webex and UMS Facebook Live online platform on 19 December 2020, from 9.00 – 10.00 pm.  The talk was attended by 1,239 participants consist of UMS staff, students as well as public for free. 

The talk focused primarily on the evolution and broad themes of Malaysia-China relations, over and across specific time periods. In doing so, it has ascertained the external-domestic dynamics, as well as salient issue-areas that have shaped and affected the ambiance of their longstanding bilateral interactions. This talk hopes to shade light on a multitude of questions raised by an increasingly informed Malaysian public regarding why, how, and the extent to which such dynamics and issue-areas affect a key bilateral relationship in Malaysia’s international affairs.

It also informs on how best for the Malaysian foreign policy decision-making apparatus to navigate and decide on the most optimal policy approaches/options, when dealing with Beijing in the foreseeable future, to advance Malaysia’s national interests and survival as a “smaller state” amid the rapidly evolving regional/global geopolitics, shaped by power asymmetry, rivalry and uncertainty.

According to Dr. Lai, Malaysia and China have enjoyed what observers commonly deemed as a “special relationship” since their normalization of diplomatic relations back in May 1974, following the unprecedented move by the then Malaysian government to seek reconciliation with the People’s Republic of China, hitherto considered to be the most salient security threat to both pre-and post-independence Malaya/Malaysia.

Indeed, Malaysia was among the earliest Southeast Asian countries to normalize ties with their proximate, giant neighbour, despite China’s role in supporting the regional communist insurgency during the first two decades of the Cold War in Asia, which resulted in a sustained hiatus in official diplomatic relations between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

Since then, Sino-Malaysian relations have blossomed, achieving numerous milestones, especially in the socio-economic realm, marked by the exponential growth in bilateral trade and investments. More specifically, China has emerged as Malaysia’s top trade partner since 2009, while the latter has consistently featured in the recent Chinese list of major trading nations. Investment ties have also experienced remarkable development, especially with regard to Chinese foreign investment flows into Malaysia under the auspices of the Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI).

Likewise, both governments have worked closely together and provided mutual assistance in combating the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic. Indeed, observers have even suggested the possible upgrade in contemporary Malaysia-China relations, from one of “special relationship” to “strategic partnership”, following the materialization of their long overdue cooperation in the realm of defence and security, the momentous 40^th anniversary of their diplomatic normalization and China’s ‘panda diplomacy’, notwithstanding.

Despite the overwhelmingly positive bilateral trajectories, there are nevertheless, salient issue-areas and challenges that, under specific external and domestic conditions, may yet have the propensity to undermine Sino-Malaysian relations, not to mention, affect Malaysia’s China’s policy orientation.