Issues and strengthening factors of Malaysia-China bilateral relations in the Najib Razak era / Muhammad Syakir Idris and Ilyas Abdullah

Bilateral relations between Malaysia and China are a longstanding partnership. This relationship was officially formed on May 31, 1974 because of the Malaysia second Prime Minister’s effort of Tun Abdul Razak. Since then, this relationship has seen a lot of positive impact on both countries, particularly in the economic aspects. This is because Malaysia-China bilateral ties in the Najib Razak administration era had a significant impact on Malaysia's economic development through trade, tourism, investment and others. However, the presence of issues such as MH370's disappearance and conflict in the South China Sea has been a challenge for the relations between the two countries. Nevertheless, the existence of strengthening factors such as economic interdependence and diplomacy approach have effectively reduced the tensions in Malaysia and China relationship. In analyzing the question of how these strengthening factors helped to reduce tension, the concept of complex interdependence been applied to help the researcher to discuss the progress in Malaysia-China bilateral relations. Hence, in this study, researcher have used qualitative methods that involve data collection through primary and secondary sources to strengthen the findings and the discussion of this research.