Cheng‐chwee Kuik
Biographic Data
| ID | 4064462 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Cheng‐chwee Kuik |
| GIVEN NAMES | Cheng‐chwee |
| FAMILY NAME | Kuik |
| SIGNATURE | KUIK C C |
| AFFILIATIONS | National University of Malaysia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6318-085X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 147 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Deference and defiance in Malaysia's China policy: Determinants of a dualistic diplomacy
When do smaller states defer to and when do they defy stronger powers? How and why? This article traces and explains the changing patterns of deference and defiance in Malaysia's China policy. There are three findings. First, deference and defiance are essential elements in all inter-state relations, especially asymmetric ones. The greater the power asymmetry, the greater the inclination to defer and defy. Second, states often pursue defiance and…
Deference and Defiance in Malaysia's China Policy: Determinants of a Dualistic Diplomacy – Addendum
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Linking Local Insights to Global IR: Locating Malaysian Contours and Contributions
This article traces the trajectories, theoretical propensities, and thematic insights underlying Malaysian scholarly thinking and writings about international relations (IR). It argues that while their contributions to the Global IR research program have been indirect and implicit, they are not insignificant. The contributions are not claims of exceptionalism but expressions of diverse experiences, perspectives, and narratives that are reflective…
The State of the Discipline: How Far Along Are We in Developing an IR Theory Based on Southeast Asia’s Experiences
Based on reflexive stocktaking and data collected from a cross-country survey distributed in seven Southeast Asian academic communities, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam, this article explores how much progress Southeast Asian international relations (IR) academic communities have made in advancing a theory or concept based on local experiences. It is argued that while mainstream IR remains d…
Southeast Asian Responses to U.S.-China Tech Competition: Hedging and Economy-Security Tradeoffs
Laos-China infrastructure cooperation: Legitimation and the limits of host-country agency
Focusing on Laos’s engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this article examines the role and limits of host-county agency toward foreign-backed infrastructure connectivity cooperation. Based on fieldwork observations, semi-structured interviews, and scholarly literature, this paper finds that Laos’s agency toward the BRI has been mixed and uneven, with both active and passive elements. That is, while Laos actively initiated coope…
Malaysian conceptions of international order: Paradoxes of Small-State Pragmatism
Why do weaker states perceive the liberal international order (LIO) with ambivalence? This article argues that in the case of small states like Malaysia, historical memories, structural realities and domestic imperatives combine to explain their conceptions of and responses to the LIO. The article traces the features and unpacks the factors underpinning the paradoxes of small-state pragmatism vis-à-vis international order: a) rejecting power hier…
Hedging via Institutions: Asean-led Multilateralism in the Age of the Indo-Pacific
This article unpacks the dynamics of group hedging in international relations by examining the Southeast Asian states’ collective efforts to use ASEAN-led multilateral institutions as a platform to hedge against a range of risks surrounding intensifying big-power rivalry and increasing global uncertainties. It argues that ASEAN’s collective hedging is a converged but not necessarily coordinated act. Despite the states’ diverging attributes and ou…
Malaysia and Northeast Asia: What Drives Small-State Forward Diplomacy
This paper adopts a two-level model to explain Malaysia’s forward diplomacy toward the Northeast Asian states, the larger economies beyond its immediate neighborhood of Southeast Asia. We contend that while such structural conditions as power dynamics drive and constrain the smaller state’s agency toward the Northeast Asian nations, their effects are filtered by domestic politics, specifically the ruling elite’s pathways of legitimation. The find…
Hedging in Non-Traditional Security: The Case of Vietnam’s Disaster Response Cooperation
Although much has been written on hedging in traditional security, few studies have focused on hedging in the non-traditional security (NTS) domains. This essay examines NTS hedging through the case of Vietnam’s disaster response cooperation with the USA and with China. “Hedging” is insurance-seeking behaviour, characterised by avoidance of irrevocable commitment, adoption of impartial and inclusive diversification, and the pursuit of prudent con…
Shades of grey: Riskification and hedging in the Indo-Pacific
This essay unpacks the hedging behavior of small and secondary states by focusing on Southeast Asian responses to the intense US-China rivalry and the emergence of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in the Indo-Pacific region. It contends that the weaker states’ perceptions of external realities are not black and white, but shades of grey, as uncertainty breeds ambiguity and ambivalence. The states often do not view a major power (and its…
Getting hedging right: A small-state perspective
Structural sources of Malaysia's South China Sea policy: Power uncertainties and small-state hedging
This essay traces the structural sources of Malaysia's South China Sea policy. It argues that Malaysia's ‘light-hedging’ approach is primarily a smaller-state's response to growing systemic pressure arising from power asymmetry, rivalry, and uncertainties. The features of this approach are: an insistence on not taking sides, concurrent adoption of open deference and indirect defiance, and an active effort to cultivate a fallback position, all aim…
The Deer and the Dragon: Southeast Asia and China in the 21st Century
Attained SCOPUS CiteScore of 1.4 in 2019.Attained Journal Citation Report (JCR) Journal Impact Factor of 0.717 in 2019.SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) 2019 for the Asiatic Region: Ranked 1st in Political Science and International Relations; 1st in History; and 3rd in Arts and Humanities.Ranked 19th by Google Scholar Metrics 2020 in the category of “Asian Studies and History”
Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia
Rivers of Iron tells the story of China's unfolding role in realizing the region-wide dream of building an intercountry railway system connecting Southwest China and its seven Southeast Asian neighbors. This system is gradually taking shape with construction of Chinese-backed projects underway in several Southeast Asian countries. Progress is being made. Nonetheless, while the PRC is strong, it is not a goliath bestriding the world, even in this …
How Do Weaker States Hedge? Unpacking Asean states’ alignment behavior towards China
The extant literature on alignment behavior has focused primarily on the macro dimensions, i.e. the typology, manifestations and implications of states’ alignment choices vis-à-vis the great power(s). Relatively few studies have examined the micro aspects of alignment choices. This article attempts to fill in the gap by unpacking the constituent component of weaker states’ alignment decisions, with a focus on ASEAN states’ hedging behavior in the…
Malaysia Between the United States and China: What do Weaker States Hedge Against
This article analyzes Malaysia's alignment behavior vis‐à‐vis America and China, with a focus on explaining how the weaker state's insistence on hedging has both motivated and limited its defense links with the competing powers. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that regional states choose to align militarily with the rebalancing America to hedge against China, the article argues that this characterization is only partially true; a more accurat…
Making Sense of Malaysia's China Policy: Asymmetry, Proximity, and Elite's Domestic Authority
Using Malaysia’s China policy as a case study of a smaller state’s response to a rising power, this article challenges the mainstream neorealist notion that the growing capability and geographical proximity of a rising power tend to induce fear among its weaker neighbours. By tracing the transformation of Malaysia’s China policy, the article’s findings indicate that power asymmetry and geographical proximity have no inherent logic of their own; r…
Malaysia's US Policy Under Najib: Structural and Domestic Sources of a Small State's Strategy
This article explains Malaysia's US policy under Prime Minister Najib. It argues that to the extent that there is a “shift” in Malaysia's policy, its substance has been shaped by structural and domestic considerations. Structurally, in the face of a fast rising China, Malaysia is compelled to keep a more balanced relationship with all the major powers. This structural push, reinforced by Obama's “pivot,” has been nonetheless limited by a concern …
The China Factor in the U.S. “Reengagement” With Southeast Asia: Drivers and Limits of Converged Hedging
This article argues that the U.S.–Southeast Asia relations under Obama have been driven and limited by a “partially converged hedging” process between the two sides. On the one hand, the United States has sought to push back and hedge against the longer‐term risks of a rising challenger by mobilizing its alignment and diplomatic assets in Asia. The structural imperative, however, has been conditioned by a calculation of not wanting to be rigidly …
How Do Weaker States Hedge? Unpacking Asean states’ alignment behavior towards China
The extant literature on alignment behavior has focused primarily on the macro dimensions, i.e. the typology, manifestations and implications of states’ alignment choices vis-à-vis the great power(s). Relatively few studies have examined the micro aspects of alignment choices. This article attempts to fill in the gap by unpacking the constituent component of weaker states’ alignment decisions, with a focus on ASEAN states’ hedging behavior in the…
Shades of grey: Riskification and hedging in the Indo-Pacific
This essay unpacks the hedging behavior of small and secondary states by focusing on Southeast Asian responses to the intense US-China rivalry and the emergence of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in the Indo-Pacific region. It contends that the weaker states’ perceptions of external realities are not black and white, but shades of grey, as uncertainty breeds ambiguity and ambivalence. The states often do not view a major power (and its…
Structural sources of Malaysia's South China Sea policy: Power uncertainties and small-state hedging
This essay traces the structural sources of Malaysia's South China Sea policy. It argues that Malaysia's ‘light-hedging’ approach is primarily a smaller-state's response to growing systemic pressure arising from power asymmetry, rivalry, and uncertainties. The features of this approach are: an insistence on not taking sides, concurrent adoption of open deference and indirect defiance, and an active effort to cultivate a fallback position, all aim…
Making Sense of Malaysia's China Policy: Asymmetry, Proximity, and Elite's Domestic Authority
Using Malaysia’s China policy as a case study of a smaller state’s response to a rising power, this article challenges the mainstream neorealist notion that the growing capability and geographical proximity of a rising power tend to induce fear among its weaker neighbours. By tracing the transformation of Malaysia’s China policy, the article’s findings indicate that power asymmetry and geographical proximity have no inherent logic of their own; r…
Southeast Asian Responses to U.S.-China Tech Competition: Hedging and Economy-Security Tradeoffs
Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia
Rivers of Iron tells the story of China's unfolding role in realizing the region-wide dream of building an intercountry railway system connecting Southwest China and its seven Southeast Asian neighbors. This system is gradually taking shape with construction of Chinese-backed projects underway in several Southeast Asian countries. Progress is being made. Nonetheless, while the PRC is strong, it is not a goliath bestriding the world, even in this …
Malaysia Between the United States and China: What do Weaker States Hedge Against
This article analyzes Malaysia's alignment behavior vis‐à‐vis America and China, with a focus on explaining how the weaker state's insistence on hedging has both motivated and limited its defense links with the competing powers. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that regional states choose to align militarily with the rebalancing America to hedge against China, the article argues that this characterization is only partially true; a more accurat…
Laos-China infrastructure cooperation: Legitimation and the limits of host-country agency
Focusing on Laos’s engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this article examines the role and limits of host-county agency toward foreign-backed infrastructure connectivity cooperation. Based on fieldwork observations, semi-structured interviews, and scholarly literature, this paper finds that Laos’s agency toward the BRI has been mixed and uneven, with both active and passive elements. That is, while Laos actively initiated coope…
Malaysia's US Policy Under Najib: Structural and Domestic Sources of a Small State's Strategy
This article explains Malaysia's US policy under Prime Minister Najib. It argues that to the extent that there is a “shift” in Malaysia's policy, its substance has been shaped by structural and domestic considerations. Structurally, in the face of a fast rising China, Malaysia is compelled to keep a more balanced relationship with all the major powers. This structural push, reinforced by Obama's “pivot,” has been nonetheless limited by a concern …
Malaysian conceptions of international order: Paradoxes of Small-State Pragmatism
Why do weaker states perceive the liberal international order (LIO) with ambivalence? This article argues that in the case of small states like Malaysia, historical memories, structural realities and domestic imperatives combine to explain their conceptions of and responses to the LIO. The article traces the features and unpacks the factors underpinning the paradoxes of small-state pragmatism vis-à-vis international order: a) rejecting power hier…
Hedging in Non-Traditional Security: The Case of Vietnam’s Disaster Response Cooperation
Although much has been written on hedging in traditional security, few studies have focused on hedging in the non-traditional security (NTS) domains. This essay examines NTS hedging through the case of Vietnam’s disaster response cooperation with the USA and with China. “Hedging” is insurance-seeking behaviour, characterised by avoidance of irrevocable commitment, adoption of impartial and inclusive diversification, and the pursuit of prudent con…
The China Factor in the U.S. “Reengagement” With Southeast Asia: Drivers and Limits of Converged Hedging
This article argues that the U.S.–Southeast Asia relations under Obama have been driven and limited by a “partially converged hedging” process between the two sides. On the one hand, the United States has sought to push back and hedge against the longer‐term risks of a rising challenger by mobilizing its alignment and diplomatic assets in Asia. The structural imperative, however, has been conditioned by a calculation of not wanting to be rigidly …
Making Sense of Malaysia's China Policy: Asymmetry, Proximity, and Elite's Domestic Authority
Using Malaysia’s China policy as a case study of a smaller state’s response to a rising power, this article challenges the mainstream neorealist notion that the growing capability and geographical proximity of a rising power tend to induce fear among its weaker neighbours. By tracing the transformation of Malaysia’s China policy, the article’s findings indicate that power asymmetry and geographical proximity have no inherent logic of their own; r…
Malaysia's US Policy Under Najib: Structural and Domestic Sources of a Small State's Strategy
This article explains Malaysia's US policy under Prime Minister Najib. It argues that to the extent that there is a “shift” in Malaysia's policy, its substance has been shaped by structural and domestic considerations. Structurally, in the face of a fast rising China, Malaysia is compelled to keep a more balanced relationship with all the major powers. This structural push, reinforced by Obama's “pivot,” has been nonetheless limited by a concern …
How Do Weaker States Hedge? Unpacking Asean states’ alignment behavior towards China
The extant literature on alignment behavior has focused primarily on the macro dimensions, i.e. the typology, manifestations and implications of states’ alignment choices vis-à-vis the great power(s). Relatively few studies have examined the micro aspects of alignment choices. This article attempts to fill in the gap by unpacking the constituent component of weaker states’ alignment decisions, with a focus on ASEAN states’ hedging behavior in the…
Malaysia Between the United States and China: What do Weaker States Hedge Against
This article analyzes Malaysia's alignment behavior vis‐à‐vis America and China, with a focus on explaining how the weaker state's insistence on hedging has both motivated and limited its defense links with the competing powers. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that regional states choose to align militarily with the rebalancing America to hedge against China, the article argues that this characterization is only partially true; a more accurat…
Structural sources of Malaysia's South China Sea policy: Power uncertainties and small-state hedging
This essay traces the structural sources of Malaysia's South China Sea policy. It argues that Malaysia's ‘light-hedging’ approach is primarily a smaller-state's response to growing systemic pressure arising from power asymmetry, rivalry, and uncertainties. The features of this approach are: an insistence on not taking sides, concurrent adoption of open deference and indirect defiance, and an active effort to cultivate a fallback position, all aim…
The Deer and the Dragon: Southeast Asia and China in the 21st Century
Attained SCOPUS CiteScore of 1.4 in 2019.Attained Journal Citation Report (JCR) Journal Impact Factor of 0.717 in 2019.SCImago Journal and Country Rank (SJR) 2019 for the Asiatic Region: Ranked 1st in Political Science and International Relations; 1st in History; and 3rd in Arts and Humanities.Ranked 19th by Google Scholar Metrics 2020 in the category of “Asian Studies and History”
Rivers of Iron: Railroads and Chinese Power in Southeast Asia
Rivers of Iron tells the story of China's unfolding role in realizing the region-wide dream of building an intercountry railway system connecting Southwest China and its seven Southeast Asian neighbors. This system is gradually taking shape with construction of Chinese-backed projects underway in several Southeast Asian countries. Progress is being made. Nonetheless, while the PRC is strong, it is not a goliath bestriding the world, even in this …
Getting hedging right: A small-state perspective
Hedging via Institutions: Asean-led Multilateralism in the Age of the Indo-Pacific
This article unpacks the dynamics of group hedging in international relations by examining the Southeast Asian states’ collective efforts to use ASEAN-led multilateral institutions as a platform to hedge against a range of risks surrounding intensifying big-power rivalry and increasing global uncertainties. It argues that ASEAN’s collective hedging is a converged but not necessarily coordinated act. Despite the states’ diverging attributes and ou…
Malaysia and Northeast Asia: What Drives Small-State Forward Diplomacy
This paper adopts a two-level model to explain Malaysia’s forward diplomacy toward the Northeast Asian states, the larger economies beyond its immediate neighborhood of Southeast Asia. We contend that while such structural conditions as power dynamics drive and constrain the smaller state’s agency toward the Northeast Asian nations, their effects are filtered by domestic politics, specifically the ruling elite’s pathways of legitimation. The find…
Hedging in Non-Traditional Security: The Case of Vietnam’s Disaster Response Cooperation
Although much has been written on hedging in traditional security, few studies have focused on hedging in the non-traditional security (NTS) domains. This essay examines NTS hedging through the case of Vietnam’s disaster response cooperation with the USA and with China. “Hedging” is insurance-seeking behaviour, characterised by avoidance of irrevocable commitment, adoption of impartial and inclusive diversification, and the pursuit of prudent con…
Shades of grey: Riskification and hedging in the Indo-Pacific
This essay unpacks the hedging behavior of small and secondary states by focusing on Southeast Asian responses to the intense US-China rivalry and the emergence of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) in the Indo-Pacific region. It contends that the weaker states’ perceptions of external realities are not black and white, but shades of grey, as uncertainty breeds ambiguity and ambivalence. The states often do not view a major power (and its…
Laos-China infrastructure cooperation: Legitimation and the limits of host-country agency
Focusing on Laos’s engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), this article examines the role and limits of host-county agency toward foreign-backed infrastructure connectivity cooperation. Based on fieldwork observations, semi-structured interviews, and scholarly literature, this paper finds that Laos’s agency toward the BRI has been mixed and uneven, with both active and passive elements. That is, while Laos actively initiated coope…
Malaysian conceptions of international order: Paradoxes of Small-State Pragmatism
Why do weaker states perceive the liberal international order (LIO) with ambivalence? This article argues that in the case of small states like Malaysia, historical memories, structural realities and domestic imperatives combine to explain their conceptions of and responses to the LIO. The article traces the features and unpacks the factors underpinning the paradoxes of small-state pragmatism vis-à-vis international order: a) rejecting power hier…
Deference and Defiance in Malaysia's China Policy: Determinants of a Dualistic Diplomacy – Addendum
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Linking Local Insights to Global IR: Locating Malaysian Contours and Contributions
This article traces the trajectories, theoretical propensities, and thematic insights underlying Malaysian scholarly thinking and writings about international relations (IR). It argues that while their contributions to the Global IR research program have been indirect and implicit, they are not insignificant. The contributions are not claims of exceptionalism but expressions of diverse experiences, perspectives, and narratives that are reflective…
The State of the Discipline: How Far Along Are We in Developing an IR Theory Based on Southeast Asia’s Experiences
Based on reflexive stocktaking and data collected from a cross-country survey distributed in seven Southeast Asian academic communities, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam, this article explores how much progress Southeast Asian international relations (IR) academic communities have made in advancing a theory or concept based on local experiences. It is argued that while mainstream IR remains d…
Southeast Asian Responses to U.S.-China Tech Competition: Hedging and Economy-Security Tradeoffs
Deference and defiance in Malaysia's China policy: Determinants of a dualistic diplomacy
When do smaller states defer to and when do they defy stronger powers? How and why? This article traces and explains the changing patterns of deference and defiance in Malaysia's China policy. There are three findings. First, deference and defiance are essential elements in all inter-state relations, especially asymmetric ones. The greater the power asymmetry, the greater the inclination to defer and defy. Second, states often pursue defiance and…
Political science (16 works) · China (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Economics (12 works) · Asian Studies and History (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Law (11 works) · International Development and Aid (10 works) · Political economy (10 works) · Politics (10 works)