Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s ‘eldest brother’ diplomacy with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, has recently caused storms in the country of palm oil.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he viewed his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi as the eldest brother during his visit to China. (Source: THX)
During a recent joint press conference in Fujian province (China) with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said he considered Wang Yi to be taiko (roughly translated: eldest brother) after He describes Malaysia and China as a family.
Mentioning this phrase, Mr. Hishammuddin spoke in Mandarin before translating himself into English. In response, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also emphasized: “We are brothers”.
Malaysian public opinion responded
Immediately, this “big brother” diplomacy “stormed” Chinese social networks because that claim was seen as Malaysia’s strong respect for China, the second largest economy. gender.
However, it has caused a lot of controversy in Malaysia because many people believe that Mr. Hishammuddin seems to be “marrying” Beijing and downplaying Kuala Lumpur’s status.
In response to criticism from domestic public opinion, the Malaysian Foreign Minister explained that it was a way of showing respect to his Chinese counterpart, as Wang Yi was older (67 years old) Mr. Hishamuddin (59 years old). and a more veteran diplomat.
During his first visit as foreign minister, Mr. Hishammuddin chose China as a way to express his appreciation to Beijing for its help in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before that, when the Covid-19 epidemic was seriously spreading in Malaysia, China sent masks and other medical protective equipment to assist this country, and at the same time shared its epidemic prevention experience.
Although Malaysia’s Foreign Minister has voiced his opinion that this is a way of showing respect and thanks, his explanation still cannot calm domestic public opinion.
Led by the attackers were former Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. They commented that Mr. Hishammuddin had made an elementary mistake in diplomacy, leaving his personal feelings overwhelmed and possibly unintentionally “putting Malaysia in a position as a puppet” of a major country and asking for an apology.
Meanwhile, the Chinese side highly appreciated the desire for cooperation and the sincerity in the words of Mr. Hishammuddin, who has always had goodwill in relations with China and hopes a positive future for the two countries’ relations.
The Chinese daily newspaper in Malaysia Sin Chew Jit Poh commented that the word “taiko” did not show inferiority and turned the issue over: “Does Mr. Hishammuddin sign any treaty that could destroy Malaysian interests? Did Mr. Hishammuddin give up national sovereignty to China? What is diplomacy? It is the clever use of language to smooth the process of achieving its goals in international negotiations ”.
Two angles of politics and economics
For the political observer, Professor Dr. Chin Yew Sin, Mr. Hishammuddin’s statement can be explained from two perspectives on politics and economics.
From a political perspective, with the Malaysian general election (GE15) approaching, Mr. Hishammuddin wants to express his goodwill to China to attract Chinese-American votes in Malaysia. According to the survey, about 30% of Chinese voters have not decided which party to support in GE15.
From an economic perspective, Malaysia’s economy is facing many difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so it is very necessary for big partners like China in the context that Beijing is facing many “obstacles” in relations with the West. In addition, after the Covid-19 epidemic, Malaysia also needs to attract Chinese tourists to revive the tourism industry.
“Did Hishammuddin suddenly call China ‘taiko’?”, Professor Chin Yew Sin emphasized.
Some have suggested that Foreign Minister Hishammuddin is looking to use his personal capacity to achieve the national goals for Malaysia. As the Chinese economy is thriving when it recovers rapidly from the pandemic, Kuala Lumpur needs to strengthen economic cooperation with Beijing.
China is Malaysia’s largest trading partner for the past 12 years. Despite the pandemic, China’s imports of goods hit a record high in 2020. This brings many economic and commercial benefits to Malaysia.
From this trip, Malaysia has achieved a number of breakthroughs in trade. In particular, Beijing agreed to allow imports of red palm oil from Kuala Lumpur, which previously did not meet China’s color specification standards.
This is an important turning point for the Malaysian economy because palm oil is a major export item and foreign currency earnings for Malaysia. The Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) recently forecast that China would import about 6.8 million tons of palm oil this year. Of which, about 42% of palm oil will come from Malaysia.
In addition, during the visit, Mr. Wang Yi also said that China was ready to work with Malaysia to continue promoting cooperation in the post-Covid-19 high quality Belt and Road initiative.
At the same time, the Chinese side also expressed its readiness to strengthen cooperation in Covid-19 vaccine and treatment research with Malaysia. In addition, the two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation in digital technology areas such as 5G, the digital economy and modern agriculture.
Malaysia’s foreign minister’s visit to China is part of a series of foreign ministers’ visits to Beijing from March 31 to April 2, at the invitation of the Chinese Foreign Minister. The foreign ministers of the remaining three Southeast Asian countries are Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
(According to The Star)
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