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Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests

This paper examines Malaysia's evolving relations with China during the second Mahathir administration from 2018 to 2020 in political, economic, and security aspects. While much of the foreign media portrayed the unprecedented change of government in May 2018 as an instance of "pushing bac...

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Main Authors: Bing, Ngeow Chow, Jamil, Nur Shahadah
Format: Article
Published: World Scientific 2022
Subjects:
JA Political science (General)
JZ International relations
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/43590/
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spelling my.um.eprints.435902023-10-24T07:02:11Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/43590/ Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests Bing, Ngeow Chow Jamil, Nur Shahadah JA Political science (General) JZ International relations This paper examines Malaysia's evolving relations with China during the second Mahathir administration from 2018 to 2020 in political, economic, and security aspects. While much of the foreign media portrayed the unprecedented change of government in May 2018 as an instance of "pushing back"against China, this paper refutes this simplistic view. It argues that while there were uncertainties in bilateral relations in the initial period following the election, the "Mahathir 2.0"administration ultimately renewed and reaffirmed its relationship with China on a positive note. Economically, the Mahathir 2.0 administration sought to renegotiate Malaysia's economic relationship with China to align it with its political economy agenda. In terms of security, Prime Minister Mahathir had at first sought to form a new normative framework but later came to adopt a more assertive stand in the South China Sea dispute. At the same time, he showed a continued (but cautious) willingness to engage in defense diplomacy and military-to-military relations with China. This paper analyzes these developments in light of the theoretical framework of neoclassical realism which takes into account the systemic, domestic, and personal factors in influencing the country's foreign policy. It also interprets these developments as exercises in hedging by a small power in an age of increasing uncertainty. © Issues & Studies and World Scientific Publishing Company. World Scientific 2022-06 Article PeerReviewed Bing, Ngeow Chow and Jamil, Nur Shahadah (2022) Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests. Issues and Studies, 58 (2). ISSN 1013-2511, DOI https://doi.org/10.1142/S1013251122510018 <https://doi.org/10.1142/S1013251122510018>. 10.1142/S1013251122510018
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic JA Political science (General)
JZ International relations
spellingShingle JA Political science (General)
JZ International relations
Bing, Ngeow Chow
Jamil, Nur Shahadah
Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests
description This paper examines Malaysia's evolving relations with China during the second Mahathir administration from 2018 to 2020 in political, economic, and security aspects. While much of the foreign media portrayed the unprecedented change of government in May 2018 as an instance of "pushing back"against China, this paper refutes this simplistic view. It argues that while there were uncertainties in bilateral relations in the initial period following the election, the "Mahathir 2.0"administration ultimately renewed and reaffirmed its relationship with China on a positive note. Economically, the Mahathir 2.0 administration sought to renegotiate Malaysia's economic relationship with China to align it with its political economy agenda. In terms of security, Prime Minister Mahathir had at first sought to form a new normative framework but later came to adopt a more assertive stand in the South China Sea dispute. At the same time, he showed a continued (but cautious) willingness to engage in defense diplomacy and military-to-military relations with China. This paper analyzes these developments in light of the theoretical framework of neoclassical realism which takes into account the systemic, domestic, and personal factors in influencing the country's foreign policy. It also interprets these developments as exercises in hedging by a small power in an age of increasing uncertainty. © Issues & Studies and World Scientific Publishing Company.
format Article
author Bing, Ngeow Chow
Jamil, Nur Shahadah
author_facet Bing, Ngeow Chow
Jamil, Nur Shahadah
author_sort Bing, Ngeow Chow
title Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests
title_short Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests
title_full Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests
title_fullStr Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests
title_full_unstemmed Malaysia's relations with China under Mahathir 2.0: Reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests
title_sort malaysia's relations with china under mahathir 2.0: reaffirming bilateral ties, renegotiating economic collaboration, reasserting security interests
publisher World Scientific
publishDate 2022
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/43590/
_version_ 1781704681552084992
score 13.211869

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