Abstract:
Economic cooperation is one of the most important keys in advance and economic
development. However, economic cooperation does not always have a good
impact on some country, therefore many countries are reconsidering to establish
economic cooperation. For example, Malaysia and China, these two countries
have long cooperated to improve economic growth. Malaysia and China further
strengthened their cooperation during the Najib Razak Government through a
program created by Xi Jinping namely the Belt and Road Initiative. Malaysia's
efforts to continue to collaborate with China are in line with the national interests
of each country. When Malaysia changed its government, the new Malaysian
Government led by Mahathir Mohamad reconsidered two projects carried out by
the Belt and Road Initiative, which are East Coast Rail Line and Trans Sabah Gas
Pipeline. The reconsideration is based on Malaysia's increasingly reliance on the
Chinese economy which will shift economic improvements that benefit China.
Nevertheless, Malaysia continues to strive to maintain bilateral relations with
China through various collaborations in the political, social and economic sectors.
In explaining the two countries, the perception of Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad who was the main actor in government policy decision
making was a factor that influenced Malaysia's attitude towards China.
