US ambassador to Malaysia Brian McFeeters (centre) speaking during a virtual visit to Sabah. - Pic credit Flickr @US EmbassyKL
US ambassador to Malaysia Brian McFeeters (centre) speaking during a virtual visit to Sabah. - Pic credit Flickr @US EmbassyKL

Sabah and Sarawak have been receiving some attention of late from the global superpowers, the United States and China.

US ambassador to Malaysia Brian McFeeters followed up his earlier virtual visit to Sabah with a similar visit to Sarawak at the end of last month and the beginning of this month.

There were the customary calls on key state leaders (including the state opposition leader) and interactions with non-state organisations and the media.

The issue of regional security was prominently highlighted, with the ambassador explaining at some length the recently-announced Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) pact, stressing that it was "not about nuclear arms at all", but rather about "cooperating on technologies that are increasingly important in the region; cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing."

McFeeters also cited Sarawak's hosting in 2019 of the Pacific Partnership, a US initiative described as a "capacity-building mission focusing on humanitarian disaster preparedness", set up in the wake of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami which devastated vast swathes of the region.

In like vein, the ambassador said the first of three upgraded CN235 planes to beef up the Royal Malaysian Air Force's patrolling capabilities in the South China Sea will soon arrive in Kuching.

As if not to be outdone, China's consul-general in Kuching, Cheng Guanzhong, spoke as well at a virtual celebration of the 72nd anniversary as the People's Republic of China on Oct 1.

He touted the completion of the latest mega-dam in Sarawak, the Baleh Dam, by China's Gezhouba Group despite many challenges, not least the ongoing pandemic.

"We sincerely look forward to continuing working with our Malaysian and Sarawakian friends to promote cooperation in many fields, and to create a prosperous future together," said the consul-general.

Given contending rivalries between the US and China, particularly over the maritime disputes between China and several of the littoral states, including Malaysia, Sarawak — with its long coastline fronting the South China Sea and frequent reports of China's intrusions near Beting Patinggi Ali (Luconia Shoals) just over 80 nautical miles off the coast of the state's oil city of Miri — is something of a frontline state.

Sarawak officially designated the shoals a maritime national park in 2018.

But, the US appears like a latecomer into Sarawak compared with the far more extensive and deep-rooted ties China has built up in the state.

The Kuching consulate was China's first in Malaysia, opened in 1994 (another consulate later opened in Kota Kinabalu). To mark its 25th year in Sarawak in 2019, Consul-General Cheng claimed the state attracted RM60 billion in Chinese investments over that period.

That presumably included an understanding with China's Beca Sci Tech/Sinopec Engineering to invest between US$5 billion and US$10 billion for setting up an integrated petrochemical plant in Lawas, a project that has yet to take off.

American high-tech companies have had investments, particularly in the Samajaya free industrial zone in Kuching, but, typically, US diplomatic forays into the state — intermittent as they are — do not highlight economic diplomacy.

In contrast, the Chinese consular presence in the state is permanent and sustained, and its officials are clearly the most prominent among the small consular corps in Kuching. Western countries maintain just honorary consuls in the state; the US not even that.

Culturally, China has opened a Confucius Institute in Sibu. The US maintains a Lincoln Corner at the Sarawak Library whereas the British Council retrenched its presence some years ago.

The contrasting approaches to diplomatic engagement between China and the US — China emphasising the economic while the US the security angle — are of course familiar the world over.

It is safe to assume talking economics provides China a much more receptive hearing in official corridors in this part of the world, Sarawak and Sabah included.

Security is of course no less important, particularly in light of China's maritime assertiveness, but that comes more under the federal watch.

In the long game of winning hearts and minds abroad, China may be stealing a march on the Americans, even in Sarawak and Sabah.


The writer views developments in the nation, region and wider world from his vantage point in Kuching, Sarawak

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times