Opinion | On China and the US, Malaysia can walk and chew gum at the same time

Like his predecessors, he has had to do this frequently since taking power as geopolitical watchers scrutinise Putrajaya’s ties to Beijing with every high-level meeting, public announcement and policy decision. Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s official visit to Malaysia last month to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations animated the latest round of scrutiny.

Those inclined to place Malaysia in China’s camp might point to the language on Taiwan in the joint statement released by both governments at the end of Li’s visit. Malaysia’s declaration of its recognition of Taiwan as an “inalienable territory of the People’s Republic of China, in order for China to achieve national reunification” and pledge to “not support any call for the independence of Taiwan” stood out as uncharacteristically explicit, particularly when compared to previous joint statements.

In 2016, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak met Chinese President Xi Jinping as bilateral relations were professed to be at their “highest level” since the establishment of formal ties in 1974. The joint statement released by both governments simply reiterated Malaysia’s “firm adherence to the one China policy” and support for the “peaceful development of cross-Straits relations and China’s peaceful reunification”.

Mahathir Mohamad – whom China has called an “old and good friend” but appeared more critical of the nature and direction of bilateral ties in his return to power – visited China when he was prime minister in 2018. The joint statement afterwards pithily noted that, “Malaysia reiterated its commitment to the One China Policy.”

Putrajaya’s more verbose position in 2024 brought a concerned response from Taipei, which not only condemned and refuted what it said were the “false claims” about Taiwan in the joint statement but also called on the “Malaysian government not to follow China in undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty”. This reaction was perhaps inevitable, given souring ties between Taipei and Beijing as well as what now seems to be a deliberate effort by Beijing to create international support for what it refers to as its one-China principle.