Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has spent much of his time in office insisting that Kuala Lumpur will not be forced to choose between the United States and China. But two sets of comments last month have raised questions about how sustainable that position is as rivalry between the two superpowers increasingly spills into Southeast Asia. "I see Taiwan as part of China, period," he said in an interview with news outlet Al Jazeera that aired on August 16.
Beijing considers democratically governed Taiwan part of its territory. While Chinese leaders say they favor "peaceful reunification," they have never ruled out using force to bring the island under Beijing's control. More controversially, Anwar appeared to accept Beijing's argument that force could be necessary.
"If one province decides to break away. I think I will, [to] protect the sanctity and unity of the nation," he said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The comments drew an enthusiastic response from Beijing, while Taiwan's Foreign Ministry accused Anwar of effectively legitimizing the use of force against the islandand warned that his "one-sided support for China could negatively impact Taiwanese businesses' confidence in investing in Malaysia," including in the country's strategically important semiconductor sector.
Two days after his comments on Taiwan aired, Anwar argued that Malaysiashould strengthen its defenses in Sabah, citing the expansion of US-backed military facilities on the nearby Philippine island of Balabac. The Philippines is upgrading facilities on Balabac, roughly 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Malaysian islands of Banggi and Balambangan. Balabac was one of four additional locations added in 2023 to the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, which allows US forces to access designated Philippine military facilities, construct infrastructure and pre-position equipment.
Taken together, Anwar's comments raised concerns that Malaysia is growing warmer towards Beijing while becoming more suspicious of Washington's military footprint in the region. Kuala Lumpur has also been one of the region's strongest critics of Israel's actions in Gaza. Anwar has repeatedly accused the United States and European governments of hypocrisy and double standards for championing democracy and international law while failing, in his view, to hold Israel sufficiently accountable.
But Malaysia experts warn against interpreting Anwar's rhetoric as evidence of a fundamental strategic realignment. "Malaysia still maintains very good relations with the US and other Western countries," Ngeow Chow Bing, director of the Institute of China Studies at Universiti Malaya, told DW. Those ties may sometimes be less visible than Anwar's increasingly warm public rhetoric towards Beijing, Bing said, but the underlying relationship remains strong.
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