Strategic Alignment between the China-Malaysia Community with a Shared Future and the ASEAN Community Vision 2045

Abstract

The strategic alignment between the China-Malaysia community with a shared future and the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 is an important issue where the upgrading of bilateral relations intersects with the deepening of ASEAN Community-building. Based on the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, this paper proposes a Bilateral-Regional Nested Strategic Alignment Model and analyses how bilateral cooperation can be embedded in a regional long-term strategy from the value, functional and implementation dimensions. At the value dimension, the China-Malaysia community with a shared future is centred on political mutual trust, common development and regional cooperation, while the ASEAN Community Vision 2045 looks ahead to the next two decades and emphasises the building of a resilient, innovative, dynamic and people-centred ASEAN. The two are highly compatible. At the functional dimension, China and Malaysia enjoy strong political mutual trust, close trade and investment ties, significant industrial complementarity, mature regional mechanisms and a deep people-to-people foundation. Malaysia's hub role in ASEAN also provides important support for strategic alignment. At the implementation dimension, the two sides should strengthen institutional coordination, deepen economic, trade and industrial chain cooperation, advance connectivity, the digital economy, green development, people-to-people exchanges and non-traditional security cooperation, and improve risk management and public communication. Based on this study, the paper explores how the China-Malaysia community with a shared future can be better embedded in the process of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, thereby providing a demonstrative practical model for China-ASEAN cooperation and common regional development.