Policy Matters - Knowing your China

MALAYSIA has a special place in China's scheme of things. This goes back to the time of prime minister Tun Abdul Razak, who recognised China at a time when other countries were more reluctant to do so.
This relationship has flowered over the years. China today is a leading global economy and a powerful strategic player on the global stage and no less in Asean.
China's influence runs deep into Malaysia. China is Malaysia's most important trade partner. It is also an active investor in the country.
China will soon end up with a multi-billion dollar investment in the Kuantan port and a 60-year-long control over a new deep-water terminal there.
SM International Wholesale (China) Centre Sdn Bhd (SMITC) has control over the international business operations, planning and management of Port Klang Free Zone.
The Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park is another multi-billion project that anchors China's investment and interest in Malaysia.
At the regional level, although the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is an Asean initiative, China's presence in the arrangement as a member will give it some weight. Its participation in RCEP is seen as a counterbalance to the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
China's active involvement in the region takes on a number of hues. For one, it is natural that China should want to trade and invest in Asean as the region emerges as a growth pole.
Beyond that, Asean's proximity to China invites its engagement with the region. But China has a larger agenda: it wants to steer global developments – and what better way to start than with countries that are closest to it.
China has planned a massive connectivity project that runs through almost half-way across the globe. The New Silk Road stretches from China, extends through Asean, crosses Central Asia, and touches the edges of Europe.
The Maritime Silk Route (or "string of pearls") is China's maritime policy where it will extend its influence over ports in the Asean-Pacific region.
As part of China's ambitions of extending its connectivity over this part of the world, we find Malaysia being home to the Kunming-Singapore railway line. This line will run through Peninsular Malaysia.
While China includes this region (and adjoining regions) within its ambit for global development, it must necessarily drive its tent pegs into the ground, hammering them as deep as possible at key points. Malaysia will have its purpose to save in this respect.
Plans by themselves are of not much use unless they are well-funded. This aspect of the plan for dominance has not been forgotten.
To support China's desire that its neighbour and friends develop their infrastructural facilities, it has helped found the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank.
AIIB has 57 founding members, with the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and France among them.
China has won over the West. Viewed from another angle, the West has been won over by China, perhaps because one day it will be the most influential mover and shaker in the world. Perhaps, also, because China's prowess needs to be balanced within AIIB since the bank will have repercussions for global development.
Then again, the West will not want to be left out of magnanimous attempts at developing this part of the world.
Still, China's influence in the AIIB cannot be brushed aside.
This rather sweeping outline of China's initiatives is suggestive of its interest in projecting its global influence and, of course, its presence in Asean.
Obviously, Malaysia falls into China's expanding scheme.
Is this cause for alarm? No.
But Malaysia needs to know how to position itself within Asean's shifting kaleidoscope.
The United States is still the world's number one player. It is the powerhouse of technology, the world's leader in that area. Its days of power and influence are far from over.
Japan, too, is active in the region. And so, too, is Australia.
India is inching away from its policy of non-alignment. It wants to be a more prominent player in the region.
Why swarm the central question of China with a host of other countries? Because there is an active reconfiguration that is going on. And it involves all these countries.
These countries stand in awe of China's size, its growth, its ambitions, and its role on the global stage. And yet, there is a tinge of anxiety on how China will play its role as the world's superpower.
Without denying China's preponderance in the region and Malaysia's close relations with China, Malaysia needs to contemplate on how it wishes to position itself with China, while considering how it will lean with its other friends.
It appears that Malaysia wants to stand its own ground. The fact that Malaysia is keen on the TPPA suggests that Malaysia will pursue its own interests, viewing them pragmatically, and not tilting solely in favour of China and excluding itself from other possibilities.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein's call that Asean should speak in one voice on the South China Sea issue is yet another indication of the independent stance.
Just as one has to be sure of one's crockery before one sits for dinner, one has to be sure of one's friends before one parties with them.
As in managing any relationship, flexibility and pragmatism are always useful virtues.
Dr Shankaran Nambiar is a senior research fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research. The views expressed in this article are his own. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com