China’s Country Image and Bilateral Relations in Malaysia: A Systematic Literature Review

Globalization and productivity are accelerating exchanges and cooperation across countries around the world. After World War II, countries have recognized that a positive country image and branding contribute to national development and international cooperation. Despite changes in leadership, China and Malaysia have maintained close and friendly connections since the start of bilateral relations in May 1974. Their diplomatic ties reached their 50th anniversary in 2024. The study aims to review studies exploring China country image and Sino-Malaysia relations. Previous scholars have explored bilateral relations and China’s partial image in Malaysia. Particularly, studies on specific events or field have explored some perceptions on China. However, there is no coherent systematic review of China’s image and Sino-Malaysia relations. Therefore, this study conducts a review and analysis of literature from 2013 to 2024, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA2020) method. The data sources include three databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The results indicate that five key themes from 14 studies are a) Political and diplomatic relations, b) Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), c) MH370 disappearance, d) Educational and cultural exchanges and e) General perception on China. In relation to orientations of China’s image and Sino-Malaysia relations are most neutral, followed by positive, with no negative. Future research should further explore China’s country image and bilateral relations in different regions and contexts.