US-Malaysian bilateral ties, China’s growing military might, Malaysia’s role in Southeast Asia and the upcoming US elections dominated a July 17 event featuring Datu Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, Malaysia’s envoy to the United States.

More than 90 diplomats, journalists, business executives and others gathered at the Royal Sonesta Washington DC Dupont Circle for the event, which was moderated by prominent Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin and was the latest in our Ambassador Insider Series.

“I think the attendance here shows there’s a lot of interest in the US-Malaysia relationship,” Rogin said, “and a recognition in Washington that Malaysia is an important country that we need to spend more time talking about.”

Indeed, Malaysia is home to 34 million people and is bigger than New Mexico, the fifth-largest US state. It’s also a founding member of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The other nine members of the trade bloc, which is headquartered in Jakarta, are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Malaysia, a former British colony whose independence dates from 1957, is a middle-income developing country, 63% of whose inhabitants consider themselves Sunni Muslims. The country  hopes to achieve high-income status by 2028, though it “must improve the quality, inclusiveness and sustainability of economic growth to remain competitive,” the World Bank said back in March 2021.

Economically, the country appears to be on solid footing. Malaysia’s GDP grew by 4.2% in the first quarter of 2024, with economic growth projected to reach 4% to 5% this year, according to the country’s central bank. That’s up from 3.7% in 2023 but a sharp drop from the 8.7% jump in GDP recorded in 2022.

Among other things, Malaysia aims to double its semiconductor exports to $257 billion by 2030, according to Bloomberg, citing industry sources. The country also has some unique claims to fame: its administrative capital, Putrajaya, boasts the world’s largest roundabout, and its national capital, Kuala Lumpur, has the world’s tallest twin skyscrapers—the 88-story Petronas Towers—which until Taipei 101 came along ranked for six years as the world’s tallest buildings.

In addition, it’s home to the world’s third-largest Sleeping Buddha, as well as Southeast Asia’s longest bridge (the 24-km-long Sultan) and its highest mountain, Mt. Kinabalu, at 4,095 meters above sea level.

Nazri, a seasoned politician, was born in 1954 in the northern state of Perak. He entered politics in 1978, serving the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) party. Nazri was a member of Malaysia’s parliament for 28 years, from 1995 to 2022, specializing in issues of governance as well as human and constitutional rights.

Known as the “law minister of Malaysia,” Nazri led nearly 40 portfolios including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Witness Protection Unit and the Legal Aid Department. In his 10 years as a parliament minister, he sponsored more than 100 bills that eventually became law.

Before coming to Washington in March 2023, Nazri said his goal as ambassador would be to repair his country’s negative perception in the wake of Malaysia’s 1MDB banking fiasco.

“I feel there is much to do in my mission in the US, especially cleaning up the image of Malaysia which was dented due to the 1MDB scandal,” he told the official Malaysian news agency Bernama at the time. “This issue has put Malaysia in a bad light.”

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, which began in 2009, is an ongoing $4.5 billion corruption, bribery and money laundering conspiracy. Among other things, it led to official investigations by the US Justice Department, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates—and a 12-year prison sentence for former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

Nazri said that his party, along with 17 others, belong to a coalition that comprises 148 of 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, which is somewhat comparable to the US House of Representatives.

“At the end of the day, you have to respect the decision of the voters. And if you don’t get the majority, it means the voters want you to work together,” he said.

Rogin pressed Nazri on the China issue, noting that “the No. 1 issue in US foreign policy in Asia will be competition with China, and by all accounts, it seems that the US-China relationship is headed on one trajectory: down.” With that in mind, he asked the ambassador how Malaysia would navigate that reality as it presents itself as a lucrative alternative to potential US investors.

Nazri insisted that Malaysia would not be drawn into any superpower rivalry, stressing instead the importance of “ASEAN centrality.”

“We speak as one voice, and somehow, every country in ASEAN has trade with both China and the US. It’s not a zero-sum game,” he said. “We don’t have to choose sides. Both China and the US are good friends of ours, and we have been trading with both countries for many years. ASEAN has decided that our area is a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality, and we don’t want any war. We have issues with China, and we will sort it out our own way.”

One such issue is the status of roughly one million ethnic Uyghurs living in northwestern Xinjiang. Human rights groups for years have documented China’s use of concentration camps to torture the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, and the United States is among several countries that accuse Beijing of committing genocide against the Uyghurs.

“The UN Declaration of Human Rights and the genocide prevention treaty was something that the Chinese government signed and is violating. Those are also UN rules,” Rogin said. “And if we don’t enforce those UN rules on China’s conduct—even inside its own borders—then the legitimacy of the UN system is also undermined.”

Yet for Nazri, it comes down to a matter of political expediency, given that nearly a third of all Malaysians are ethnically Chinese.

“I’d be very unhappy if China interferes in my country. We are members of the UN and we have to abide by the rules we have in front of us,” he said. “We are not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.”

Before wrapping up, Rogin asked Nazri what he is doing to prepare for Trump’s possible return to the White House.

“You may feel disappointed with what I’m about to say, but whether we like it or not, we’ll have to work with whoever comes next,” the ambassador said. “For us, we have to be prepared, even if Robert Kennedy wins. All we know is that the Republicans had their convention, and next month is the Democratic convention. Even the Americans don’t know who will win. So we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”