PNN – The prime ministers of Malaysia and India, as important countries in the Indian Ocean and the China Sea, are meeting each other while the challenge of geopolitical relations between China and the United States has disturbed the situation in South Asia.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has traveled to New Delhi to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is the first visit of the Prime Minister of Malaysia to India since 2018. India and Malaysia established their relations in 1957, when Malaysia was called the Federation of Malaya.
The close friendship between Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Malaysian counterpart Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra resulted in strong relations between the countries in the 1960s, and Nehru was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Malaysia in 1954.
On the other hand, Tunku Abdul Rahman (1962) was the first Prime Minister of Malaysia who visited India in 1962.
After Modi took office in 2014, the relations between the countries were elevated to higher levels. Malaysia hosts the third largest Indian diaspora in the world and is home to 2.75 million Indians of origin.
The High Commissioner of India in Malaysia had previously announced: Malaysia is the second largest population of the Indian community, which provides a natural bridge for our deeper engagement with this country.
The world of economy and business of India and Malaysia
Trade relations between the two countries are also on the rise. Malaysia is India’s 13th largest trading partner and New Delhi’s third largest trading partner in ASEAN. India is also one of the 10 largest trading partners of Malaysia.
According to Hindustan Times, Malaysia is the 26th largest investor in India. Malaysian construction companies also have a large footprint in India. Trade between the two countries is expected to be around $20 billion in 2022-23, and officials say it will continue to grow.
Sputnik quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Pranab Kumaran as saying at the 2023 India-ASEAN Startup Summit: Due to the nature of the contemporary world, the trade portfolio of the two countries is expanding to meet our needs and emerging opportunities. Our investment relationships are also strong and growing.
According to experts, bilateral trade can reach 25 billion dollars in the next three years. After Modi’s visit in 2015, it was decided to take India’s engagement with Malaysia to a higher level.
India and Malaysia are creating a framework for doing business in national currencies with the goal of de-dollarization. The two sides also plan to start a process to review the 12-year comprehensive economic cooperation agreement in order to include new cooperation items, which include renewable energy and semiconductors.
Malaysian company Petron has invested billions of dollars in the renewable energy sector in India. The initiatives of the Malaysia-India Digital Council and the Annual Energy Dialogue underline the commitment to expand cooperation.
Another program of the two countries is the annual energy dialogue, which focuses on renewable energy with the emphasis of both countries and having nearly 4 billion dollars of bilateral trade in the field of fossil fuels, especially oil and gas.
India is a significant market for Malaysia as the two countries have strong economic and cultural ties, and India is Malaysia’s fifth largest source of tourists.
Defense and diplomatic relations between Malaysia and India
India’s defense relations with Malaysia have gained momentum in recent years. The defense cooperation memorandum signed in 1993 is the cornerstone of the defense relations between the two countries.
In July 2023, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh visited Kuala Lumpur, during which both sides approved an amendment to the Indo-Malaysia Defense Cooperation Memorandum signed in 1993.
Malaysia is one of the few countries showing strong interest in buying indigenously developed Indian Tejas aircraft. Tejas is a single-engine multipurpose fighter aircraft capable of operating in hazardous air environments.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly in 2019, Mohammad claimed that “New Delhi has invaded and occupied Kashmir.”
India responded by changing its import rules to ban refined palm oil from Malaysia.
Anwar Ibrahim’s visit is part of India’s broader diplomatic push to advance its Act East policy. The visit follows New Delhi’s recent engagements with other Southeast Asian leaders, emphasizing India’s strategic pivot to the region.
Trying to balance diplomatic relations
Narendra Modi and Anwar Ibrahim discuss Malaysia’s possible interest in joining BRICS, the evolving situation in Palestine and the complex situation in the China Sea. Malaysia is a key claimant state in the South China Sea.
With Malaysia’s significant stake in the China Sea, India is particularly keen to understand Malaysia’s views on expanding Chinese influence in the region, which could have wider implications for Indo-Pacific security.
Evaluation
Considering the current events in South Asia and Southeast Asia and the continuing challenges between China and the United States, Asian countries are seeking to establish a balance of power.
America as an ally of India and China as an ally of Malaysia have faced these two countries with challenges in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.
On the other hand, India does not welcome the cooperation between Malaysia and China as a potential geopolitical enemy and prefers Malaysia to be connected to New Delhi and Singapore as American allies that maintain the balance of diplomatic relations.