Relationship dossier
Australia
Malaysia
Relationship assessment
Australia and Malaysia maintain a strategic partnership spanning trade and defence, alongside occasional diplomatic friction.
Australia toward Malaysia
+60Australia has pursued structured cooperation with Malaysia through the bilateral free trade agreement, the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and its 2021 elevation to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Australian-Malaysian defence cooperation has also included joint activities. In 2013, revelations of Australian intelligence surveillance in Malaysia prompted diplomatic friction.
Malaysia toward Australia
+60Malaysia has engaged Australia through the bilateral free trade agreement and the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, elevated in 2021 to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Malaysia also participates in bilateral defence cooperation with Australia. The 2013 controversy over Australian intelligence surveillance in Malaysia was a source of diplomatic tension.
Overall relationship
+60The enduring relationship is structured around a strategic partnership, a bilateral trade agreement and defence cooperation. These sustained arrangements support a substantially cooperative relationship, while the 2013 intelligence-surveillance controversy illustrates that diplomatic friction has also occurred.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Australia and Malaysia maintain a sustained, substantially cooperative relationship, including a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, a bilateral free trade agreement and extensive defence cooperation. The partnership was elevated to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2021. A 2013 controversy over Australian intelligence activities in Malaysia also demonstrated that relations have faced friction.
Areas of tension
- The 2013 controversy over Australian intelligence surveillance in Malaysia
Key developments
The Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement entered into force.
Australia and Malaysia established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The partnership was elevated to an Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Revelations of Australian intelligence surveillance in Malaysia prompted diplomatic friction.
Major uncertainties
- The implementation and current scope of the Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership are unclear.
- The balance of defence cooperation and outstanding policy disagreements may have changed.