Between Scylla and Charybdis? Emerging New Malaysia and Its Enigmatic Relations with China

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" Between Scylla and Charybdis? Emerging New Malaysia and Its Enigmatic Relations with China "
Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1065686
Doc. No	:	LA109315
Call No	:	‭10.1163/21983534-00702004‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh
Title & Author	:	Between Scylla and Charybdis? Emerging New Malaysia and Its Enigmatic Relations with China [Article]\ Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Bandung
Date	:	2020
Volume/ Issue Number	:	7/2
Page No	:	209–235
Abstract	:	This article traces the evolution of China-Malaysia relations under National Front Prime Minister Najib Razak and the Alliance of Hope Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. While the Belt and Road Initiative (bri) strengthened Beijing’s support of Najib’s kleptocratic regime in Malaysia, the 2018 general elections brought the anti-graft Alliance of Hope coalition led by Mahathir into power. Under Mahathir’s leadership, Malaysia cancelled several large-scale infrastructural projects like the East Coast Rail Link (ecrl), owing to their links with Najib’s 1mdb scandal and the unfavorable terms of the bri which put Malaysia severely in China’s debt. Although this curtailed Beijing’s use of Malaysia as a pawn in its goals in the region, it alienated some of the new Alliance of Hope’s supporters and saw the loss of much Chinese investment. However, Malaysia had already been caught in the bri’s web and Mahathir had to mend fences with Beijing by renegotiating better deals and redefining Malaysia’s relations with China. As Malaysia is geopolitically strategic to China’s extension of influence in Southeast Asia, Beijing willingly cut the ecrl cost by a third. It is in such context and with due consideration of the changing developments in the Alliance of Hope’s perception of Malaysia’s relations with China that this article will explore the enigmatic nature of China-Malaysia relations as the latter strives to protect its sovereignty against Chinese influence and Beijing continues to press its charm offensive through the bri.
Descriptor	:	1mdb scandal
Descriptor	:	African Studies
Descriptor	:	American Studies
Descriptor	:	Asian Studies
Descriptor	:	Belt and Road Initiative in Malaysia
Descriptor	:	General
Descriptor	:	Latin America
Descriptor	:	Literature and Cultural Studies
Descriptor	:	Malaysia
Descriptor	:	Postcolonial Literature Culture
Descriptor	:	rise of China
Descriptor	:	Sino-Malaysia relations
Descriptor	:	Social Sciences
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/21983534-00702004‬