COMMENT | If Malaysia’s first challenge is recognising the nature of modern espionage, the second - and more complex - challenge is responding without sacrificing economic opportunity.

The intensifying rivalry between the United States and China places Malaysia, and Asean more broadly, in a strategic bind.

Both powers are indispensable economic partners. Both supply capital, technology, and access to global markets. Yet both also operate intelligence systems that view global data access as a strategic necessity.

In such an environment, neutrality cannot remain a rhetorical position; it must be operationalised through policy, regulation, and institutional discipline.

Malaysia’s development model has long been...