How I Envision Malaysia’s Bilateral Relations with China to Evolve in the Post-Covid-19 Era
Lee Ricson （S3ACW）
2020 has undoubtedly been a difficult year for everyone, with many kinds of challenges that all countries were driven to work together to overcome. As the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia, Ouyang Yujing said, we are now standing on the historical high point of China-Malaysia relations, the increasing instability of global development has created challenges for China and Malaysia's growth and stability. Like the old saying, a friend in need is a friend indeed. China’s effective response in combating Covid-19 and helping other countries has never been clearer, they raced against the clock and were the first country to report cases to the international community, offered crucially required international assistance by initiating the biggest global humanitarian response effort in the history of this nation, did their utmost as the largest medical supply producer, and became the first to promise to make vaccinations a global public good, taking into account the common good of mankind. This proves that China’s devotion to its role in the global community and dedication to multilateralism is not to be doubted.
To understand Malaysia’s future with China, we must first seek to understand China’s foreign policy. Time and again, China has proven the old development model of divide-and-conquer oppressive, outdated, and inefficient. Hence, China seeks to create a Community of Shared Future for Humanity along with other countries. Actions speak louder than words, and China certainly delivers on its promises. China values mutual respect and equitable consultation on political issues, promotes dialogue rather than conflict on security matters, and advocates open and win-win cooperation in economic development. Many countries would find China’s foreign policy more desirable than that of Western countries mainly because it differs from the West in that China does not demand economic, political, and cultural reforms that attach to their deals.
Observing China’s pattern of dealing with other countries, we can conclude quite a few points on why deepening cooperation with China is a wise choice for Malaysia. Firstly, China’s development and cooperation model serves internal and international imperatives by seeking mutually beneficial strategies of opening-up. Secondly, China firmly stays on the path of peaceful development and they respect all countries’ right to choose their own development path. Thirdly, they believe in common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security. Lastly and most importantly, they never impose their will on others as a strong nation while upholding international fairness and justice at the same time. A sum of all these positive traits that China has makes them an excellent and trustworthy partner for Malaysian leaders and investors.
First and foremost, one of the core points in China’s development strategy is its dual circulation economy. Over the past four decades, China and the rest of the world have benefited immensely from China's opening-up, which reinforces China's resolve to proceed down this path. As a consequence, we are seeing a trend in which China embraces more foreign investment, reinforces its Belt and Road Initiative, negotiates more free trade deals, and takes advantage of its free trade zones and ports. What impact would that have on Malaysia, and by extent, on the world? Domestic growth of demand makes investing in Chinese firms a wise option, giving Malaysian investors a ripe opportunity to reap the benefits of China's growth, which in turn, also boosts Malaysia's domestic economy by increasing the income of its citizens. Following the increase of Malaysian citizen’s income, there would naturally be more disposable income for them which is to be further invested in Chinese projects or Chinese-related projects. At the same time, an increase in the income of its people would certainly stimulate Malaysian investors’ desire to initiate more projects that can attract investment from China, thus creating a model of mutual growth for both China and Malaysia.
Furthermore, it is also worth noting that Malaysia is a friendly neighbour of China and a key partner of the Belt and Road Initiative, which is part of why I strongly believe that both Malaysia and China are certainly set to benefit from each other’s economic development with more investments and more opportunities in the future. With the Belt and Road Initiative advancing step by step, due to our geographical and economic potential advantage, ASEAN countries such as Malaysia would undoubtedly prosper much more. China's overseas investments, in addition to providing more job opportunities for locals, would help us improve our manufacturing system and help drive regional economic integration. Moreover, 15 countries including China and Malaysia have recently signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which will help boost the economy of countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Free trade between China and Malaysia would bring about many benefits for all parties involved. For example, Malaysian firms and workers could acquire new skills and knowledge that would increase their production efficiency, and increase their competitiveness. It is worth noting that specialisation in production that comes naturally with free trade would also increase production efficiency, and hence increase Malaysian and Chinese people’s income and living standards.
It is undeniable that the China-Malaysia bilateral relationship has gone a long way ever since Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Tun Razak took the first step among ASEAN nations to establish diplomatic ties with China. In conclusion, I envision that the China-Malaysia bilateral relationship will take another step further in the post-Covid-19 era for the betterment of people on both sides. The global trend now is peace, development, and cooperation, hence building a closer relationship with China is in line with the common interest of the people in both China and Malaysia.
Nonetheless, with both expectations and obstacles along the way, we have a long journey ahead of us. With conviction, we must march forward hand-in-hand relentlessly!