That the investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz is of the view that the Trump administration has not forced Malaysia to choose between the US and China in the escalating trade war between the two superpowers is without insight.
“At the moment, I don’t believe the US is making it difficult for Malaysia to stay neutral. During our conversations, there has never been a request to choose sides,” he said in an interview with US broadcaster CNBC today, as if to indicate that the trade war between China and America is just a matter of bean counting, and not a conflict of global supremacy.
We can understand why Tengku Zafrul might be forced to state what he said during an interview with an American news network, but let us also hope that this is not the true view of Tengku Zafrul, or the view of the unity government.
Naturally, the Trump administration, which is trying to project power with its tariff war, is not going to ask Malaysia to choose its side in its trade war war with China. If it has to ask Malaysia to choose sides before Malaysia chooses sides, this will be tantamount to the Trump administration admitting that it needs Malaysia more than Malaysia needs it. Why would it do that when through its tariffs, it is trying to prove that Malaysia needs it more than it needs Malaysia?
No third world boss – and a third world boss is what Trump is – will ever ask the desperate workers that they are squeezing to stay with them. Instead, once they prove to the worker that the worker needs them more than they need the worker, they will just give a “take it or leave it” deal to the desperate worker. If the desperate worker takes the deal, the third world boss will expect the desperate worker to show them gratitude and respect for giving them the deal and “saving them” from the desperate situation , when they could have just as easily given the deal to some other desperate worker. If the desperate worker doesn’t take the deal, on the other hand, then the third world boss will just shrug their shoulders and give some other desperate worker the deal, with the full expectation that the desperate worker that refused their deal will be crushed by their desperate situation because of their refusal.
In other words, the Trump administration might not explicitly ask Malaysia to choose the American side against China, but it is expecting it. If it doesn't get it, it will just abandon us to be crushed by the desperate situation that it itself has put us in.
To the least, it is going to expect Malaysia to stay neutral and not choose China’s side, because for Malaysia to stay neutral is tantamount to abandoning China and choosing America’s side.
We must understand that identity wise, America sees Malaysia to be closer to China than the west. Seeing it so, all it will ask from Malaysia in its conflict with China, is for Malaysia to remain neutral.
When outsiders are fighting with your uncle, the only thing they will expect you to do is stay neutral , because just the fact that you refuse to support your uncle is equal to you weakening your family without weakening the outsider's team.
The very fact that America is not asking us to pick sides, after hitting us with tariffs and expecting us to go to their country to negotiate with them, is a sign that America sees us as the outsiders. They see themselves as a part of the West while they see us as a part of Asia. When they go after China, they will expect the other countries in the West to stand with them, but they will expect other Asian countries like Malaysia to remain neutral and not stand with China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Malaysia for 3 days starting from April 15. Other than Malaysia, President Xi is also expected to visit Cambodia and Vietnam.
The reason that President Xi is visiting SEA nations is because China sees the SEA nation as a part of its identity group that it hopes will stand by it when it confronts the Western identity group, which is led by Trump.
If we were to stand with China, we would likely suffer repercussions from America. If China is worth supporting, it should be aware of the risk and sacrifice that we will have to make to stand behind it, and thus when President Xi comes visiting next week, he will come bearing tools that will enable us to withstand American punishment and gifts to show us that it appreciates our support, at a time when China’s destiny is in the shape of a question mark.
If President Xi proves to us that China is worth supporting, by understanding the risk we are taking and appreciating our sacrifice, then by all means, I think we should support China.
We are an Asian country. China has a possibility of winning the trade war if it is supported by Asian countries.
We can speak English and wear a coat and suit and mimic the Westerners to the T, but at the end of the day, they will still see us as outsiders.
No matter what our troubles are with China, China is the leader of the identity group that we belong in, as Asians.
If the West is distinguished in virtue and principles, that we should choose the West over China, just as we should choose an outsider that is virtues and principled over our own kith and kins, if our kiths and kin are sinful and corrupt, but otherwise, we should always choose one of our own rather than outsiders.
The West is hardly a paragon of virtue for us to choose it over China. Seeing so, if China is willing to take on the west, and if we believe that China can win the trade war with America if it has our support, and if we think that in terms of virtues and principles, China is no worse or perhaps even better than the west, it goes without saying that we should choose China over America.
Yes we might suffer if we choose China, but we are going to suffer regardless of what we do.
Of all our suffering, the worst will come if we choose neither America or China because then we will be punished by both without receiving the support of either.
Considering that, we must choose – we must choose the winner, and if we are not sure whether it is China or America that is going to win, then we must choose China, because China and us belong in the same family, and all else being equal, it is always best to choose one of your own rather than outsiders.
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