No one is asking Malaysia to pick a fight with anyone! They're a sovereign nation that can pilot its own course through troubled waters. remain neutral in any conflict. They welcomed the Japanese during WW11, and paid the price.

Similarly, with the expansion of imperial China. They may well be unable to freely navigate their coastal waterways and may even become a vassal state of China a la Tibet.

There's an interesting juxtaposition in Malaysia in the way their own Chinese population is treated and their attitude to China.

Not too far ahead in time they will need to get off the fence and decide if they want to remain a western style democracy or be swallowed by an expansionist China.

Without alliances and treaties, nothing to prevent that outcome. And the same mistake they made with Japan in WW11!
Alan B.

Well if Malaysians wish to remain Muslim, that would not be tolerated under Chinese occupation.