KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia-China relations alongside Asean's strategic positioning offer important diplomatic lessons in an era of rising geopolitical tensions, say academics.

The ties between Malaysia-China demonstrate how diplomacy grounded in empathy, identity and human connection can be more enduring than rivalry, said Dr Chin Yee Mun, who is Tun Tan Cheng Lock Centre for Social and Policy Studies director. He said humanistic diplomacy showed that stability is not built through confrontation but understanding.

Reflecting on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China, Chin emphasised that human connection has long shaped this relationship.

"This includes the response by Malaysia's civil society groups during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake - a defining moment that deepened goodwill between both nations."

Recent initiatives, including the Belt and Road cooperation, vaccine support during the pandemic, the introduction of mutual visa-free travel, had further broadened people-to-people exchanges, he said.

"This signals a partnership that extends beyond statecraft. Malaysia-China ties show that foreign policy is shaped not only through strategic interests but by identity, norms and shared experiences," he said at the "Asean-China Dynamics in Building a Shared Future" conference yesterday.

Dr Soon Thean Bee, who is the Asean Research Centre for a Community with Shared Future chairperson, said Asean's neutrality presents the ability to set the rhythm of regional politics.

In her paper "Strategic Harmony amid US Pressure: Reinterpreting Asean-China Cooperation through Sun Tzu's Logic of Transformation", she said Asean's position across the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca places it as among the world's busiest and most strategic waterway.

"This gives the region more than leverage. It allows Asean to influence how both China and the United States engage with South-East Asia," she said.

On the tariffs imposed by the United States, she said this created a ripple effect felt most by China, noting how the resulting supply chain disruptions pushed both major powers to rely more on South-East Asia's trade routes and manufacturing networks.

"With production lines and shipping lanes increasingly being redirected through the region, Asean has become even more central to the economic strategies of both China and the United States," she said.

Soon said the tariffs have also strengthened Asean-China cooperation while prompting Washington to renew its outreach to Asean.