The BGA Malaysia Team, led by Senior Director Sadiq Noor Azlan, wrote a client update on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Malaysia.

Context

  • Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Malaysia as part of his three-country Southeast Asia tour, which included stops in Vietnam and Cambodia. Malaysia was his second destination, following the invitation of the king of Malaysia. This visit marks Xi’s second trip to Malaysia since 2013.
  • Anwar remarked that Xi’s state visit is a symbolic representation of the strong, long-standing bond of friendship between the two countries, which recently commemorated 50 years of diplomatic relations. A total of 31 memorandums of understanding, agreements and notes were exchanged during a ceremony held after the bilateral dialogue between the Malaysian and Chinese officials in Putrajaya, outlining cooperation in numerous areas of interest.

Significance

  • Xi called for Southeast Asian nations to unite in resisting geopolitical confrontation, echoing his support for a regional stand against unilateralism and protectionism. Although he did not directly refer to the United States in his remarks in Kuala Lumpur, his statement was made in response to the recent announcement of reciprocal trade tariffs by the United States on its trading partners. Xi had emphasized China’s stance of rejecting decoupling, supply disruption and tariff abuse and said he will look to counter the “law of the jungle” with openness, inclusiveness, solidarity and cooperation.
  • Xi supported Malaysia as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) chair and signaled China’s openness to sign the ASEAN-China Free Trade upgrade protocol. He reaffirmed China’s commitment to advance the comprehensive strategic partnerships through dialogue, mutual trust and people-centric initiatives. China is keen to work with ASEAN to address global instability and uncertainty, and it supports Malaysia playing a significant role given its status as country coordinator for ASEAN-China dialogue.


Implications

  • Malaysia’s pivot toward increased economic collaboration with China as a proposed trade diversification measure could also be seen as antagonistic toward the United States. This builds on Malaysia’s already disadvantageous position with the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden due to Anwar’s strong criticism of Israel in its handling of the war against Hamas in Gaza. Malaysia’s position to remain neutral and unaligned on the South China Sea dispute may further complicate this effort. Given the Trump administration’s binary worldview on geopolitics, the U.S. president may conclude that Malaysia is too closely aligned with countries that are adversarial to the United States.
  • China’s endorsement of Malaysia’s advocacy for a united regional response through the ASEAN platform will put more pressure on the negotiations between ASEAN member states and U.S. trade officials. With the Trump administration preferring bilateral negotiations over that of a multilateral approach, a push for collective bargaining through ASEAN while individual countries also work on direct negotiations may further complicate what is already a significant undertaking. So far, Washington has not given any indication that it will consider trade talks with any grouping besides the European Union.

We will continue to keep you updated on developments in Malaysia as they occur. If you have any comments or questions, please contact BGA Malaysia Senior Director Sadiq Noor Azlan at msadiq@bowergroupasia.com.

Best regards,

BGA Malaysia Team

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Senior Director

Sadiq brings his deep understanding of political dynamics and ability to recognize key government stakeholders to his role as director for BGA Malaysia. Sadiq joined BGA in mid-2019, after serving as special officer to the minister of finance under two different administrations. In addition to advising on topics ranging from the country’s annual budget, legislative procedures, subsidy rationalization and election campaigns, he managed engagement with other ministries, private and public agencies, government-linked companies and multinational corporations, foreign leaders, business chambers, media personnel and politicians. Sadiq obtained his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He spent over ... Read More