Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century

This article analyses the trends and developments in Malaysia-Japan relations since its inception in 1957. It begins with a brief historical overview of their bilateral interactions, followed by a scrutiny of the developments and shifting trends, from the early decade of the establishment of officia...

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Main Author: Lai, Yew Meng
Format: Article
Language:English
English
Published: Penerbit UMS 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27581/1/Looking%20East%20again_%20Malaysia-Japan%20relations%20in%20the%2021st%20century%20FULL%20TEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27581/2/Looking%20East%20again_%20Malaysia-Japan%20relations%20in%20the%2021st%20century%20ABSTRACT.pdf
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author Lai, Yew Meng
author_facet Lai, Yew Meng
author_sort Lai, Yew Meng
collection UMS
description This article analyses the trends and developments in Malaysia-Japan relations since its inception in 1957. It begins with a brief historical overview of their bilateral interactions, followed by a scrutiny of the developments and shifting trends, from the early decade of the establishment of official diplomatic relations between independent Malaya and Japan that coincided with the Cold War to the introduction of Malaysia’s Look East Policy (LEP) in the early 1980’s that saw Malaysia-Japan ties taking-off to new and unprecedented heights. In doing so, the article reveals the major impetuses/drivers of their ‘special relationship’, which among others include complementarities in their national economies, perceived sociocultural affinities underpinned by the so-called ‘Asian values’ and idiosyncrasies of key leaders like Mahathir Mohamad, as well as the given regional strategic environment, which contributed to a congruence of strategic thought and mutual interests between the major actors from both countries that led to Malaysia’s admirable relations with Japan before the turn of the 21st century. This article also assesses the contemporary trends in and prospects for their bilateral ties, by identifying the changing dynamics that have brought a qualitative shift in the Malaysia-Japan bilateral relationship which is moving towards strategic partnership and beyond.
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spelling ums.eprints-275812021-07-05T08:27:01Z https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27581/ Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century Lai, Yew Meng DS Asia This article analyses the trends and developments in Malaysia-Japan relations since its inception in 1957. It begins with a brief historical overview of their bilateral interactions, followed by a scrutiny of the developments and shifting trends, from the early decade of the establishment of official diplomatic relations between independent Malaya and Japan that coincided with the Cold War to the introduction of Malaysia’s Look East Policy (LEP) in the early 1980’s that saw Malaysia-Japan ties taking-off to new and unprecedented heights. In doing so, the article reveals the major impetuses/drivers of their ‘special relationship’, which among others include complementarities in their national economies, perceived sociocultural affinities underpinned by the so-called ‘Asian values’ and idiosyncrasies of key leaders like Mahathir Mohamad, as well as the given regional strategic environment, which contributed to a congruence of strategic thought and mutual interests between the major actors from both countries that led to Malaysia’s admirable relations with Japan before the turn of the 21st century. This article also assesses the contemporary trends in and prospects for their bilateral ties, by identifying the changing dynamics that have brought a qualitative shift in the Malaysia-Japan bilateral relationship which is moving towards strategic partnership and beyond. Penerbit UMS 2017 Article PeerReviewed text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27581/1/Looking%20East%20again_%20Malaysia-Japan%20relations%20in%20the%2021st%20century%20FULL%20TEXT.pdf text en https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27581/2/Looking%20East%20again_%20Malaysia-Japan%20relations%20in%20the%2021st%20century%20ABSTRACT.pdf Lai, Yew Meng (2017) Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century. Jurnal Manu, 26. pp. 1-27. ISSN 2590-4086 https://jurcon.ums.edu.my/ojums/index.php/MANU/article/view/1057/689 10.51200/manu.v0i0.1057 10.51200/manu.v0i0.1057
spellingShingle DS Asia
Lai, Yew Meng
Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century
title Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century
title_full Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century
title_fullStr Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century
title_full_unstemmed Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century
title_short Looking East again?: Malaysia-Japan relations in the 21st century
title_sort looking east again malaysia japan relations in the 21st century
topic DS Asia
url https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27581/1/Looking%20East%20again_%20Malaysia-Japan%20relations%20in%20the%2021st%20century%20FULL%20TEXT.pdf
https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27581/2/Looking%20East%20again_%20Malaysia-Japan%20relations%20in%20the%2021st%20century%20ABSTRACT.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT laiyewmeng lookingeastagainmalaysiajapanrelationsinthe21stcentury