Malaysia’s Foreign Policy (DIS 3113)

Tun Abdul Razak:
Malaysia-China Relationship Normalization
Mej Suresh Vijayaratnam TUDM 814114
Mej Razali bin Ahmad Jumali TUDM 8141138

Introduction
TUN ABDUL RAZAK’S BIOGRAPHY
Tun Abdul Razak was born in Pulau Keladi, Pahang on March 11, 1922 and is the only child to Dato' Hussein bin Mohd Taib and Hajah Teh Fatimah bt Daud. He was a brilliant student and received his early education at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar in 1934. In 1939, Tun Razak joined the Malay Administrative Service. Thereafter in 1940 he was awarded a scholarship to study at Raffles College in Singapore. His studies at the college ceased with the onset of the Second World War. However Tun Razak left for Britain in 1947 to study law with a Malayan Union scholarship at the age of 25. In 1950 he received a Degree of an Utter Barrister from Lincoln's Inn. Tun Razak was a member of the British Labour Party and a prominent student leader of the Kesatuan Melayu Great Britain (Malay Association of Great Britain) during his student days in England. He also shaped the Malayan Forum, an organisation for Malayan students to discuss their country's political issues. Upon his return, he joined the Malayan Civil Service.

Tun Razak joined United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1950 he became the youth chief. He worked as the Assistant State Secretary of Pahang and in February 1955 and at a young age of 33 years, Tun Razak became Pahang's Chief Minister. He won the Malaysia’s first general elections in July 1955 and was appointed as the Education Minister. Tun Razak followed the

mission to London to seek the independence of Malaya from the British in February 1956. Thereafter in 1959, Tun Razak was consequently appointed the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia while holding portfolios as Minister of Rural Development and the Minister of Defence. Subsequently on 22 September 1970 Tun Razak succeeded Tunku Abdul Rahman as the second Prime Minister of Malaysia until 1976.

Tun Abdul Razak was responsible to reinstate the eventually fading confidence of Malaysians after the 13 May 1969 tragedy. He formulated the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971 when he took responsibility to eradicate the economic and social disparities between races in Malaya. Two main objectives of NEP which is also popularly known as “serampang dua mata” in Malay language is to reduce and eventually eliminate poverty, and to reduce and eventually eradicate identification of economic function to a particular race. The NEP introduced by him reinstated parliament democracy by increasing multi-racial party members and generated unity. Another successful endeavor by Tun Razak is the Red Book. For his contributions in the area of national and rural development, Tun Abdul Razak is known as the Father of Development.

TUN ABDUL RAZAK’S FOREIGN POLICY
Under the headship of Tun Abdul Razak, Malaysia observed progressive foreign policies based on non-alignment, neutralization and peaceful co-existence and are not supportive of Western

policies as propagated by his predecessor, Tunku Abdul Rahman. Tun Abdul Razak’s approach to foreign policy marked by Malaysia’s involvement in Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) and its declaration as a "Muslim nation" with reference to its participation in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Under Tun Razak’s leadership, Malaysia seeks for collaboration and partnership in investments other than Western sources especially British to achieve true independence.

Razak’s administration witnessed chaos in international and regional affairs this include, United States’s involvement in Vietnam in extended manner, the a challenging geo-political environment with threat from neighboring countries such as Indonesia and India culturally and politically. The rise of Asia dragon i.e. China witnessed another nuclear super-power and re-entry into international diplomacy and multilateral cooperation. Not underestimating, the increasing influences of Japan on Asia especially in the fields of commerce, industry and finance and the improved power of Muslim states in the Middle East were indirectly shaping Malaysia’s foreign policy at the time.

During Tun Razak’s tenure, Malaysia also had to handle regional security issues such as the Philippines’ claim over Sabah, the cooperation with Thailand to solve communist guerrillas in border area, the Thai treatment of Malay- Muslims in Southern Thailand and the relationships with Indonesia regarding to the navigation rights in the Melaka straits issue and the possession of offshore oil resources.

While Tun Abdul Razak was juggling to introduce right policies for Malaysia to deal with competitive political environment internally and externally, he concluded that relationship with other emerging countries such Africa and Asia is paramount. Furthermore the manner in which Malaysia handled these issues considered as popular sentiment to gauge the perception of Malaysia by the other countries. Tun Razak wanted to generate an image of Malaysia as a free country and independent from foreign controls. He started to immediately execute his strategies when he took over his premiership. His plans include uplifting neutrality and non-alignment as Malaysia’s main foreign policy aspiration in order to ascertain future security and well-being of Malaysians. By this it means implementing full neutralization of the whole of Southeast Asia while still maintaining a good relationships with the West by acquiring cooperation from the major powers that were concerned with this region, and also by identifying with the ‘Third World’ of Afro- Asia including Latin American, South Pacific and Middle East. Another goal was to gain alliance with the ASEAN countries and to make sure that the region would be safer and freed from foreign military forces and also to maintain harmonious, peaceful and bilateral relationships with these neighboring countries.

FORMATION OF ASEAN
Under Tun Abdul Razak’s tenure ship as the deputy prime Minister of Malaysia, only two regional organisations were established namely, ASA (Association of Southeast Asia) and the ASPAC (Asian Pacific Council). Since both organisations were working on redundant basis, in 1967, not long after the Confrontation dispute with Indonesia, five main country members

including Adam Malik from Indonesia, Narciso Ramos from the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak from Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam from Singapore and Thanat Khoman from Thailand held a meeting in Bangkok and eventually founded the ASEAN, in response to the failure of MAPHILINDO, for the strategic and security reasons. The important meeting which signifies the establishment of ASEAN is also known as the Bangkok Declaration.

Before the formation of ASEAN, Malaysia was facing the issues regarding to the claim made by the Philippines over Sabah as Sabah was once the territory of Sultanate of Sulu and Confrontation of Indonesia at Southern part of Malaysia. All the conflicts were resolved with the formation of ASEAN as members of ASEAN agreed on better solutions. Tun Abdul Razak demanded for the withdrawal of the Philippines from Sabah even if they wanted to infiltrate Sabah with a special forces. To settle the conflict once for all, in February 1977, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, was initiated by Tun Abdul Razak to be signed in summit conference in Bali to promote peaceful resolutions of disputes between ASEAN member countries.

ASEAN spurred a big relieve to communism threats. The formation of ASEAN was mainly for strategic and security reasons and political stability among the ASEAN countries. The integration of ASEAN block protected ASEAN member countries from being colonized, threatened or involving in communism. ASEAN connected all the countries to have a neutralized stance, to focus in economic growth and also to rebuild and recover after World War II. This was

very important to Malaysia as Federation of Malaya, by the time, had just came out from the confrontation with Indonesian and was in the state of emergency, Without the idea of ASEAN and the co-operation among the ASEAN countries for political and economical support, Malaysia would not be able to survive throughout the whole early period before and after the formation of Malaysia.

ORGANIZATION OF THE ISLAMIC CONFERENCE (OIC)
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is an international organization with a permanent delegation with the United Nations. It happened to be an idea of the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1969 and Malaysia has officially joined the organization since then. The succeeding government of Tun Abdul Razak reaped advantage from his leadership role. With more than 25 countries became the members of OIC before 1970, Tun Abdul Razak had become a second man by carrying on the idea made the first Prime Minister. In fact, this capable leader was persisted in the policies of Tunku Abdul Rahman in the organization.

NEUTRALIZATION AND ZONE OF PEACE, FREEDOM, AND NEUTRALITY (ZOPFAN)
Neutralization is the core to all Tun Abdul Razak’s foreign policies since he assumed his position as the second prime minister of Malaysia. Tun Abdul Razak proposed two stages of

implementation. The first stage is through Southeast Asian nation-states to adopt and practice non- aggression and non- intervention principles based on mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, besides reaching out to ensure harmony and security among themselves. The second stage of implementation involved the major superpowers at the time, the United States, China, and the Soviet Union, to provide assurance to ASEAN member countries that the Southeast Asian region would not become an area for conflict among these major countries. This was strategically done accepting the superpowers to supervise and provide guidance to ensure the neutrality of Southeast Asia. The declaration stressed on regional cooperation to strengthen the economic and social stability of the region to ensure peaceful and progressive national developments.

Since Tun Razak took-over the Government in 1970, Malaysia was clearly uplifting its stand for non- interference policy to foster good bilateral relationships with many countries. In line with this, ZOPFAN (Zone of Peace, Freedom, and Neutrality), formed in 1970, a brain-child of Tun Abdul Razak’s own as one of his many endeavors to neutralize Southeast Asia, from any external forces or interference. The aim is to create a region that has lasting peace, freedom and prosperity. A leader with full vision and master of strategic missions, Tun Abdul Razak received

lots of support and recognition when he proposed his strategy for neutralization to the United Nations General Assembly in New York in October 1971. After the acceptance in international fora, Tun Razak subsequently arranged meeting with four ASEAN member countries namely

Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines on He managed to arrange a meeting with four other ASEAN countries to hold a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on November 26th and 27th. The result was the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, an issue of a joint communiqué that included a declaration of all ASEAN countries by the time to cooperate and work together to gain the recognition and respect for Southeast Asia as ZOPFAN.

During the tenure of Tun Razak as the Deputy Prime Minister and Tun Ismail organized a number of diplomatic campaigns to ensure Malaysian proposal for the need of a neutralized ASEAN countries acknowledged by the other non- ASEAN Southeast Asia countries. He further promoted larger regional cooperation and cautioned about the security-risk that could be possessed by the super-powers. This message was clearly signaled during the 3rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on 16 December 1969. Tun Razak emphasized the significance of regional cooperation and regional harmony through collective efforts.

Tun Abdul Razak’s ZOPFAN initiative was spread intra-ASEAN when he made an official visit to non-ASEAN countries i.e Burma in 1974 to convince President U Ne Win about neutralization. Although Burmese remained unconvinced and Indo-China was about to fall-prey to communists, Tun believed that eventually in the future, these countries would see the importance of neutralization. However, ZOPFAN idea toned-down during the Bali meeting in 1976. In 1990s, after evaluating the applicability of ZOPFAN especially in the post-Cold war

era, it was decided ZOPFAN is merely a concept or principles without an effective plan for actions.

NON- ALIGNMENT MOVEMENT (NAM)
Tun Abdul Razak made an important move to strengthen the ZOFPAN principles by joining NAM (Non-Aligned Movement). NAM surfaced during the failure of the colonial system in Asia and Africa and the surfacing of independent countries from colonization and imperialism. As the name implies, NAM members follow a strict ‘non-alignment’ policy, did not favor both democratic bloc and communist bloc and promotes self-determination, national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. NAM countries also focus on strengthening the socioeconomic development as well as reconstituting international economic system.

Tun Razak understood that by joining NAM, Malaysia can demonstrate its position clearly which chose to be non-aligned with any super-power blocks. The first Informal Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of NAM was at New York on 27th September 1969 and was attended by Tun Razak who was then holding portfolio as Malaysia’s Foreign Minister during that period. Consequently, Tun Razak as the Prime Minister of Malaysia led the first Malaysian Delegation to attend 3rd NAM Summit in Lusaka, Zambia from 8th until 10th September 1970.
In addition to collaboration in socio-economic aspect politically NAM members collectively condemn Zionist’s violent action against Palestinians. Zionist (Israel) consistently expanded their

influence throughout Palestine boundaries. As a Muslim, Tun Abdul Razak was empathy and joined condemnation against Israeli’s actions. NAM also agreed that this situation posed a threat to international security and peace. Indirectly this led to closer collaboration with other Muslim countries that disagreed with Zionist’s cruel action against Palestine.

Tun Razak’s leadership in Asian region was proven again when he was working hard to ensure free-alignment of South East Asia zone. His active effort to spur neutrality principles to non-ASEAN members of South East Asia resulted in successful emergence of Socialist Republic of Vietnam through before fifth NAM International Conference. Further Nixon (the United States) had withdrawn from Lao People’s Democratic Republic during the same time. This is due to tremendous pressure from Southeast Asian countries which are collaborating strongly to uplift neutrality and peaceful existence as the sovereignty right of every country. NAM celebrated the struggle of the country to fight against Imperialism by United States. Tun Razak supported Vietnam’s resolutions to join NAM and this led to confidence building amongst Southeast Asian countries to join forces with Tun Razak’s vision to ensure free and neutral South East Asian region.

In a nutshell, Tun Abdul Razak contributed a lot to Malaysian’s development in terms of its foreign policy. It was him who initially practiced commercial bond between Malaysia and other Islamic nations, coupled with his ability to serve a respectful image of Malaysia’s name

throughout the world and preserved Malaysia’s cerebral policies towards a nation’s freedom. At this point, he had moved Malaysia one step forward to the present Malaysia. HISTORY OF MALAYSIA-CHINA RELATIONSHIP
Malaysia and China relationship can be traced back Malacca Sultanate ages. Sultan Megat Iskandar Shah (son of Parameswara or Sultan Iskandar Shah) was the first to head a royal visit to China in 1418 to raise concerns regarding Siamese threat to colonize Malacca. China via Maharaja Yongle in 1419 sent his envoy to warn the Siamese rulers regarding the threat. Since then, relationship between China and Malacca was further strengthened through several friendly envoys in 1420, 1421 and 1423. Hence that was the first diplomatic relationship established with between Malaysia and China.

Since the British colonization over Malaya, between September 1945 and August 1957, Malaya's relations with China were managed by Britain. It was largely during Britain's administrative control of the Malay Peninsula that Chinese immigration increased by leaps and bounds. At present Malaysia it is one of the three countries in the world, outside China and the territories of Taiwan and Hong Kong, with a very large ethnic Chinese population despite its size. The current figure stands at about 6 million, or approximately 26 per cent of the total Malaysian population

of slightly over 25 million. The other two countries are Thailand (about 8 million) and Indonesia (about 4 million).

As a result of sustained diplomatic relationship between Malaya and China, Chinese immigration into the Peninsula, Sarawak and Sabah began in the course of the 19th century. In the Peninsula, the turning point was after the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. Tin mining in Klang, Lukut and Sungai Ujong as well as sugar cultivation in Province Wellesley and pepper-gambier planting in Johor took off roughly at about the same time in the 1830s and 1840s (see Jackson, 1968).

MALAYSIA-CHINA RELATIONSHIP UNDER TUN ABDUL RAZAK
Acknowledging the historical relationship and Chinese immigrants accepted as part of Malaysian family during the independence of Malaya, Tun Razak made the right move to establish diplomatic relationship with China. This was done on 31st of May 1974 and the historical date mark the beginning of Malaysia-China relationship since the end of World War II. Malaysia was the first Southeast Asian state to effect official diplomatic ties with China and during when Malaysia was still engaged in armed conflict against the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), despite the official termination of the Emergency (declared in the middle of 1948) in 1960.

It was a letter written by Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak to Prime Minister of China, Zhou Enlai way back in 1971 that got the ball rolling 35 years ago to forge diplomatic ties with China, now poised for further progress. The letter was sent through Tan Sri Michael Chen, at that time the secretary-general of the Alliance Party – predecessor of the present Barisan Nasional (BN), when a Malaysian team participated in a table tennis (ping pong) tournament in China in September 1971. Chen gave Premier Zhou Enlai the letter written by Tun Abdul Razak in his capacity as the president of the OCM (Olympic Council Of Malaysia). Thereafter, Chinese Premier Zhou instructed China’s minister of foreign affairs to meet Chen at the minister’s office to seriously build the Malaysia-China bilateral relationship. Three years later, Tun Abdul Razak made a historic visit to China and both Malaysia and China established diplomatic ties on May 31, 1974, thus opening a new chapter in bilateral relations.

Datuk Mohamed Jawhar Hassan, Chairman and CEO of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS), commended on Tun’s action to move-forward and foster bilateral ties with China as the boldest initiative that Malaysia has ever taken in its eventful external policy. It was also among the most visionary, given the enormous benefits that continue to accrue not only for Malaysia but also to ASEAN region as a whole. Tun Razak’s move to establish ties with China was strategically planned to soften sensitivities as then the Cold War was raging in the region, between Communist China and non-Communist countries in ASEAN. China’s Chinese Communist Party was supporting the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

However, Tun Razak’s astuteness to befriend China reflects genuinely on its intention to promote neutrality and peaceful with countries all over the world. To this effect the Malaysia’s second prime minister defied conventional to ink a Joint Communiqué establishing diplomatic relations with China (copy of the Joint Communiqué attached).

Malaysia set example to other ASEAN countries which eventually followed suit to have diplomatic ties with China i.e. Philippines and Thailand in July 1975, Singapore in 1990 and Brunei in 1991. Indonesia, which had suspended diplomatic relations with China in October 1967, restored them in July 1990. Malaysia-China Friendship Association secretary Tan Kai Hee said China placed great emphasis on the personal touch and personal relationship and really appreciated the boldness of Tun Razak in establishing diplomatic relations with China. China very much appreciated what Tun Razak had done in establishing diplomatic relations with China when the country was isolated by the world at that time. Relations between Malaysia and China have seen an upward trend in the last 35 years in all areas.

From the 1990s, Sino-Malaysia relations reached new levels of development with the close cooperation and contact extended to other areas such as trade, tourism, education, culture, science and health. In 2000, the Bank of China set up a branch in Kuala Lumpur and, two years

later, the People’s Bank of China and Bank Negara Malaysia signed a bilateral currency exchange agreement. On the international front, Malaysia and China shared similar views on many issues such as on Iraq and Palestine, terrorism, globalisation and regional security.

The Chinese economy has effectively become the engine of growth for the region. China is now Malaysia’s fourth largest trading partner, with total trade expanding rapidly from RM53 billion in 2003 to RM130 billion in 2010. By 2017, the trade volume between the two countries is expected to amount to or exceed RM160 billion with mutual investment constituting an important part in the bilateral economic and trade relations. Although China, as with the rest of the world, has been affected by the global financial crisis, the fact remains that China is an economic power with the world’s largest market. With some 1.3 billion populations and strong economic growth, China has provided one of the best markets for Malaysian products.

CHINA-MALAYSIA RELATIONSHIP-CHINA’S PERSPECTIVE
China has always been welcoming to nurture strong diplomatic relationship with Malaysia. For China the strategic cooperation with Malaysia is expected to boost the overall China-ASEAN strategic partnership. Malaysia’s initiative had set path for other ASEAN countries to cooperate with China. This diminished the possibility of ASEAN bloc to become a regional threat to China.

Instead China-ASEAN turned-out to be strategic alliances which witnessed sound development in the political, economic and cultural fields. Now the relationship further flourished with the establishment of ASEAN-China FTA (ACFTA).

Malaysia has been China's top trading partner for the ASEAN for five consecutive years since 2008, with bilateral trade hitting a record high of nearly US$95 billion in 2012. As of the end of last year, mutual actual investment reached $7 billion, which worth more than 5,000 programs. Malaysia is the third Asian country after Japan and South Korea, with largest bilateral trade with China exceeding $100 billion. On other strategic point, China has been working actively with Malaysia to build a model for cooperation in Southeast Asia, with two joint China-Malaysia industrial parks being built in Jinzhou, Guangxi Zhan autonomous region, and Kelantan, the largest city on Malaysia's eastern coast. Politically, the leaders of both sides attach importance to the promotion of bilateral relations from a strategic perspective.

Strategic cooperation between China and Malaysia can help boost China's overall relationship with the ASEAN. China-Malaysia relations are solid and reliable. In the future, bilateral relations will become even more comprehensive stable, and pragmatic, and further promote China- ASEAN cooperation. China-Malaysia economic cooperation can push forward China- ASEAN economic cooperation. In the context of the global economic downturn, China and the ASEAN can only rely on themselves to achieve steady economic growth and sustainable development. Building an upgraded China- ASEAN free trade area is the mainstay to realize steady economic

development. The around $100 billion trade volume between China and Malaysia accounts for a quarter of total China- ASEAN trade volume. In the future, the steady growth of China-Malaysia bilateral trade and mutual investment will serve as an important driving force for an upgraded China- ASEAN FTA. .

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF
MALAYSIA-CHINA RELATIONSHIP BY TUN RAZAK

Recapturing historical and cultural perspective of Malaysia-China relations can be traced back to ancestral days in 1440s. Soon after the influx of Chinese immigrants in the Malayan mining industries and after the Malayan independence, Chinese became one of the major races in Malaysia. China embraced communism in 1949 and at that point in time they do not have lucid policy direction towards Southeast Asians of Chinese origin. They sustained the previous Kuomintang government whereby Chinese with ancestral ties with China are considered as Chinese citizens. This caused complications with other countries which just obtained their independence from colonial rule such as Malaysia which obtained independence from Britain. The countries which just achieved independence do not want to deal with dual Chinese citizenship issues. However, the Chinese communist were enthusiastic to have diplomatic relations with these new nations especially those that were not seen as Western allies. This is the paramount reason for Tun Razak made a strategic stand to foster relationship with China.

Tun Razak’s approach is both tactical and diplomatic to deter the Malaysian Chinese from being influenced by Communist Party of Malaya. When Malaysia made attempt to foster diplomatic relationship with China, it sent soft-signal to China on Malaysia’s stand for neutral and peaceful existence. China was then very careful not to interfere in Malaysian political set-up as both countries signed mutual understanding agreement i.e Joint Communiqué to protect the sovereign right of each country. In this regard the strategic approach taken by Tun Razak devoid of stirring sensitivities of Malaysian Chinese is commendable. However, despite the partial success of the policy of neutralization, the establishment of diplomatic relations with China did not discontinue the Peoples Republic’s support for propaganda of local insurgents. Although Kuala Lumpur had complained about the resurgence of communist activity in the Malaya Peninsula that included assassinations and assaults of the authorities that could be equated as terrorism, the Peking regime did not try to cease the activity of Malayan Communists’ Party China- based radio station, which frequently made personal attacks on Malaysian government. Breaking the promise about not to interfere affairs of Malayan Communist Party, the Peking government congratulate MCP during its 45th anniversary. Responding to this issue, Tun Abdul Razak ordered an official protest lodged with the Chinese ambassadors. This attempt indirectly prompted China to slowly withdraw their communist influences/support from Malaysia

In addition, Tun Razak’s action to foster diplomatic ties with China is important to install confidence among Malaysian Chinese towards the Malaysian Government after the May 13,

1969 incident. Most the Chinese in Malaysia had embraced Malaysian citizenship and were already integrated in Malaysian politics by 1974. Again, according to the Book, Malaysia, Southeast Asia and the Emerging China: Political, Economic and Cultural Perspectives; it has been suggested that one reason Tun Razak wanted to establish diplomatic relations with China was an attempt on part of Barisan National to win Malaysian Chinese votes for a general election that was expected to be declared after he came back from China. UMNO leaders were confident of their loyalty to use the China card. Nevertheless the Malaysian Chinese still faced problems regarding their citizenship. Many Chinese in Malaysia still could not obtain their Malaysian citizenship and therefore were so-called stateless Chinese. It was feared that they could complicate the negotiations between Malaysia and the Chinese communist authorities. The Chinese communist government couldn’t openly abandon them. This is another reason for both parties to develop diplomatic ties in 1974; Tun Razak and Premier Zhou En-lai signed the join communiqué which urged the Chinese residents in Malaysia to respect Malaysian laws and customs.

Fourthly Tun Razak wanted to establish diplomatic ties with China was that was due to economic and regional strategic causes. According to Malaysia: Fifty Years of Diplomacy, in May 1971 a trade mission went to China at the invitation of the Chinese Government’s National Foreign Trade Corporation. The result of this initiative was that China agreed to buy an entire stockpile of the Malaysian Rubber Fund Board. Furthermore, China also agreed to purchase an additional 150,000 tons of rubber a year at average market prices. After almost a year later, in

March 1972, the China National Chemical Export and Import Corporation invited a rubber technical advisory mission from Malaysia to visit China for two weeks. Malaysia’s recently established national trading corporation, PERNAS sponsored a 60-member trade delegation to the Canton Spring Fair in April 1972. Besides that, Malaya also developed a relationship with China based on other levels such as sports and medical exchanges throughout 1971 and 1972. This reflects Malaysia under the leadership of Tun Razak did not neglect the huge market opportunity to be reaped from the rising China supremacy.

Next, China’s formal membership in the UN and President Nixon’s visits to China was kind of prompted Tin Razak’s initiative to have diplomatic relations with China. Malaysia was determined to start the bilateral talks through a dialogue with China with a view to normalization of relations. The communication began in June 1973 and the first few meetings showed Malaysia’s seriousness in the negotiations. Those who represented Malaysia were Zain Azraai (representing Prime Minister’s Office), Khor Eng Hee (Wisma Putra) and Ahmad Kamil Jaafar (Deputy Permanent Representative). On the other hand, the person who represented China was their Ambassador, Huang Hua. In the negotiations, Malaysia managed to get a satisfactory deal with all its main concerns addressed. Hence Tun Razak’s intention is to normalize relations with super-powers as China to refrain from being a target of attack by other super-powers such as Britain and the US. In this instance, the perception of China as a threat to Malaysia began to change from the mid 1980s onwards. The main reason is because of the acceptance by the Malaysian government and the Malaysian Chinese were well integrated in

Malaysian polity. Any further opening towards China such as allowing Malaysians to visit China with the same degree of freedom they were permitted to travel to any other friendly country. The move simultaneously enhanced business ties between Malaysia and China and prevented the possibility of any negative domestic political consequences.

The starting of Tun Abdul Razak’s premiership, Malaysia’s economy was still strongly reliant on the Western countries as a result of Tunku’s pro-Western policies. Malaysia’s economy system was highly agricultural- based; thus, merchants from Britain who invested and had come control over the trade were biased towards products that were lucrative and with high demand especially rubber and coffee. Tun Razak’s strategy to establish relations with Oriental countries like China sees efforts to break-free from dependency towards Western countries. This is the sixth major reasons for Tun Abdul Razak’s strategic move. Consequently, Tun Abdul Razak made every effort to abolish pro-western attitude such as by introducing the New Economic Policy. Through this mechanism more trading opportunities were established with new merchants such as China, India, Afro-Asia and Islamic countries like Arab.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, throughout the whole period of Razak’s administration, he was ambitious and determined to accomplish political goals. This is principally because he assumed leadership after the May 1969 riots, the primary goals to be achieved were on the formulation and implementation of domestic policies that could ease the internal conflicts.

However, there were also big changes in international affairs that demanded him to redirect our country’s foreign policy by being uninvolved in the open political conflict and seeking to build a truly independent nation politically, economically and socially. These were how the ideas of neutralization, peaceful existence and diplomacy were successful. Establishing diplomatic ties with China is one of the best actions taken by Tun Razak to rejuvenate and realign Malaysia’s Foreign Policies. His measures exposed Malaysia to external world via its bold foreign policy involvement. Tun Razak’s leadership on the creation of ASEAN, promote peace and neutrality concept, shift out-ward from pro-Western policies and move to create relationship with super-powers such as China is admirable and positioned Malaysia as the leader for Southeast Asian countries. Many other ASEAN countries followed the foot-steps of the honorable Tun Razak.

"As we move along the road of nationhood we will have to make adjustments and re- adjustments in order that our people of various races should have a rightful place in our society."
Tun Abdul Razak
Father of Development, Malaysia

REFERENCES
1. BLYTHE, Wilfred (1969). The Impact of Chinese Secret Societies in Malaya A Historical Study. London: Oxford University Press.

2. CHAN, Cheung John (1970/71). The establishment of the Chinese Consulates in Singapore and Penang, 1877-1911. Jurnal Sejarah: University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Vol. IX, 1970/71.

3. CHEN Mong Hock (1967). The Early Chinese Newspapers of Singapore 1881-1912, Singapore.

4. Colonial Office C.O. 273/662, C.O. Memo 50336/Pt. I, 1940: Points for discussion with Sir Shenton Thomas re: Labour Unrest in Malaya.
5. HARA, Fujio (1997). Malayan Chinese and China: Conversion in Identity Consciousness. 1945-1957, I.D.E. Occasional Papers Series No. 33, Tokyo: Institute of Developing Economies.

6. JACKSON, James C. (1968). Planters and Speculators Chinese and European Agricultural Enterprise in Malaya 1786-1921, Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press.

7. JONES, Alun (1970). Internal Security in British Malaya, 1895-1941, Ph.D. Dissertation, Faculty of the Graduate School of Yale University, United States.

8. JONES, L. W. (1966). A Study of the Peoples of Sarawak, Sabah and Brune: London. 9. PNG Poh Seng (1961). The Kuomintang in Malaya: Journal of Southeast Asian

10. PURCELL, Victor (1967). The Chinese in Malaya, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 2nd edition.

11. RATANACHAYA, Gen. Dato' Kitti (1996). The Communist Party of Malaya: Malaysia and Thailand, Bangkok.

12. SARAVANAMUTTU, J. (1983). The Dilemma of Independence Two Decades of Malaysia's Foreign Policy 1957-1977, Penang: Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia.

13. SOLOMON, Richard H. (1981). The China Factor Sino-American Relations and the Global Scene: New Jersey.

14. STOCKWELL, A. J. (1979). British Policy and Malay Politics During the Malayan Union Experiment, 1942-1948. Monograph of the Malaysian Branch Royal Asiatic Society, No. 8. 15. TREGONNING, K. G. (1964). A History of Modern Malaya, Singapore. TURNBULL, C.M. 1972. The Straits Settlements 1826-67: London.

16. WANG Gungwu (1959). Sun Yat-sen and Singapore, Journal of the South Sea Society, Vol. XV, Pt. 2, December.

17. WONG Lin Ken (1965). The Malayan Tin Industry to 1914, Tucson: University of Arizona Press. |
18. THE EDITOR, 22 Sept. (1974). Razak’s China Triumph, Malaysian Leader Reshapes Region’s Political Landscape, The Asia Magazine.