China’s President Xi Jinping is in Malaysia, as part of a Southeast Asian tour—visiting Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia—as Beijing seeks to shore up ties with the region, amid escalating trade tensions with Washington. With Southeast Asia caught in the middle of the world’s two largest economies, President Xi’s visit takes on heightened geopolitical and economic significance. What does it signal about China’s intentions in the region—and with the US watching closely, how might it shape Malaysia’s standing with both superpowers? On #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Dr Lam Choong Wah, Senior Lecturer at UM’s Department of International and Strategic Studies.
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00:00Hello and good evening. I'm Melissa Idris. Welcome to Consider This. This is the show
00:24where we want you to consider and then reconsider what you know of the news of the day. China's
00:29President Xi Jinping is in Malaysia as part of a Southeast Asian tour, visiting Vietnam,
00:36Malaysia and Cambodia. And this as Beijing seeks to shore up ties within the region amid escalating
00:44trade tensions with the US. Now, with Southeast Asia caught in the middle of the world's two
00:50largest economies, President Xi's visit takes on a more heightened geopolitical and economic
00:58significance. What does it signal about China's intentions in the region? And with the US watching
01:05closely, how might it shape Malaysia's standing with both superpowers? So joining me now on the
01:12show is Dr. Lam Chungwa, who is a Senior Lecturer at UN's Department of International and Strategic
01:19Studies. Dr. Lam, thank you so much for being on the show with me today. Maybe we can begin with
01:24setting a bit of context about Malaysia's economic and diplomatic relationship with China. How has it
01:34evolved in recent years, particularly in the most recent years? And what priorities do you see emerging
01:42from this visit? All right. Okay. Thanks for inviting me or having me here to have a talk over here.
01:50And then, yeah, definitely the Xi Jinping's visit will be a very impactful and also very important
01:56towards our country. And several sectors have been already identified that to be a bilateral cooperation
02:06for international sectors. And first and foremost is, I mean, digital economy as well as, I mean, other
02:14infrastructural constructions and as well as trade and also some commodity trade also. So those are the
02:24traditional sectors that we have to explore as well as to expand also. And other than that, also like what our
02:32host and anchor said that, yeah, amidst the trade war is going ongoing and his visit will be very
02:43significant that to signal that how, I mean, developing countries like us as well as the biggest developing
02:50countries like China to work together to handle or to tackle that kind of implications of trade war as well as
03:00the incoming global recession also. And in this world, several things we have to look together. First and foremost,
03:10we have to stabilize the currency trade. We don't want to see a volatile currency trade because any drastic
03:21up and down of the currency trade is going to be detrimental to our country's economy. And second thing,
03:28we want to ensure that we want to ensure the spirit as well as the practice of free trade will be
03:34implemented and will be continued by all the countries including the United States also. Because
03:42whether you like it or not, the United States is the biggest, I mean, consumption country in the world.
03:48They consume almost the biggest share of the goods of the world. So, and also, we also export a lot of
03:56goods to America and as well as China also. So, we hope and then we do pray that America will continue
04:06to become the U.S. that we have known for so many years. Don't be a stranger that we don't know.
04:14And definitely, this is the part that we will try to look for. But we have to take care of, I mean,
04:24an emergency plan also. We have to plan for any unwanted scenarios also.
04:34Can I just very quickly jump in? What kind of unwanted scenarios should we be worried about?
04:42For example, like if Trump, he wanted to impose higher and higher tariffs, not only on China,
04:49but also on other countries like ASEAN countries. Previously, he wanted to impose 24% of tariffs on
04:55Malaysia. But luckily that he, I mean, put a stop over there. He said that he had given the 90 days to us.
05:03But definitely, he still hasn't solved the problem. He still hasn't removed the kind of a threat
05:12which was placed upon us. So, we feel the uncertainties is there. And then definitely,
05:18it's not good for us to do business because for the businessmen and for traders or even for investors,
05:24any uncertainties will be detrimental to their business. So, not only to businesses, but also to
05:32politics also. Because for politics, we always look for, I mean, a certain certainty as well as stability.
05:40So, that's the thing we want to look for. So, we hope from an economic perspective,
05:45SRF from the political perspective, we want to work for a stable and also prosperous regional arrangement.
05:55Okay. I'm just wondering from President Xi's visit here. We know the US is watching closely. Donald
06:01Trump has said he's watching the Southeast Asian tour, as he called it. What do you think Malaysia has
06:11to gain and has to risk both politically and economically from this visit, particularly if the
06:19U.S. is watching? And we are going to go and negotiate the tariffs with them soon.
06:26Okay. Like what Xi Jinping, after his visit to Vietnam, Donald Trump, he issued a statement saying that
06:35China and Vietnam, they were discussing to jeopardize American interests. So, this is what he said. And also,
06:44this is how he perceived a bilateral cooperation. We cannot predict what Donald Trump will say about
06:53presidency to Malaysia. But I think we will try to balance our interests when we come to engage
07:03with China as well as the US. Hedging strategy has been implemented and adopted by Malaysia for a very,
07:11very, very long time. And we have a very, very good track record that we don't really
07:18bend on any other big power. We don't. And this is our track record. We can prove it. And even
07:26the President of China, he visited Malaysia, but we don't see that it is a kind of change of our fundamental
07:34position that we want to change our foreign policy totally from balancing to, I mean, to the kind of
07:45pro-China position now. And we will also reassure America that even China President is here, we just
07:54want to, I mean, to have a very good business relations and cultural and also political relations,
08:02nothing more. We are not forming that kind of three alliances with China. No, we are not doing that.
08:10And as well as we are not forming that kind of anti-American alliance or collision. No, we are not
08:17doing that also. And whatever initiatives, I mean, brought forward by America, we also participated.
08:25Like previously, we actively participated in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. And we have signed
08:33the three agreements. And not only signed, we have already ratified them. Ratified means that they
08:39already put in place and implemented. We mean it. So we value our bilateral relationship with America also.
08:50Right. Dr. Lam, a quick question about the South China Sea. During this visit, do you think it will
08:58feature quite prominently? And how do you think Malaysia might manage this maritime dispute while at
09:07the same time having that deeper economic and friendship ties with Beijing?
09:14All right. For the South China Sea, this territory dispute, and actually in the early 1990s,
09:21we, our government, had already decided to put aside this, to also to separate this dispute from our
09:29bilateral relations. Our bilateral relations with China is not divided by this territory dispute.
09:36We separate it and we confide it into a very, very specific box. We put it into a box and then we lock
09:43not lock it. We put it aside and we decide and we also, we have reached a consensus with China that
09:50maybe we have a fundamental, I mean, disagreement towards the sovereignty claiming of this territory.
09:59But we also agree that we wouldn't let it to, I mean, affect and also jeopardize our bilateral relations.
10:07And this is the consensus we have reached together with China in 1990s, early 1990s. And we are going
10:14to continue this way also. So, and also China has also had already acknowledged our position. Yes,
10:22we don't agree with your position. You don't agree with your position, but it's not going to stop us
10:27from cooperating. So this is the position we are going to continue. Yeah. Okay. In the 90 days that we have in
10:36Trump's tariff pause, what geopolitical risks do you think Malaysia should watch out
10:44most closely as we navigate this intensifying US-China rivalry? Okay, like our Prime Minister,
10:51what he had done is correct. Actually, he went to meet all his ASEAN counterparts as well as other
10:59original leaders. And definitely, Donald Trump threatened that if you retaliate, then he will impose
11:08higher tariffs on you. And our Malaysian position is we don't retaliate. But we want to, I mean,
11:16handle this issue together with our ASEAN counterparts. We don't want to be divided and ruled by
11:24American also. American actually, they are employing divide and ruled strategy. And we want to avoid
11:32that. So we meet with our ASEAN counterparts. We are going to have a consensus about, I mean,
11:39united action also. For example, like if we, our ASEAN, can formulate one united action or one united
11:48position, then we can go to talk with the American together. So together, we are strong. I mean,
11:58if we are separated, definitely will be ruled and conquered by the kind of divide and rules of the
12:04Zilla. So we try to avoid that. And for this presidency, we said definitely, we will try to align
12:12our position with Chinese position also, but not in the sense of anti-American, but in the sense of we
12:20want to reduce the uncertainties of this trade war, as well as try to maintain the free trade agreement
12:28also. Yeah. And also supply chain. Yeah. Dr. Lam, thank you so much for being on the show with me today.
12:34Dr. Lam Chung-Hwa from UM's Department of International and Strategic Studies. We're going to take a quick break
12:39here on Consider This. We'll be back with more. Stay tuned.