COMMENT | Malaysia’s exports make up to 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). These are Malaysian exports to the rest of the world.

It may seem healthy and large, but it is not when compared to the likes of South Korea and Japan. Both countries’ GDP export exposure to China alone is up to 25-30 percent each year, when free from any geopolitical constraints such as South Korea’s handling of the “comfort women” issue, which in the view of Japan, has been legally and financially resolved; whereas in the case of Japan, it does not mollycoddle Taiwan, led by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) more than it already does.

Be that as it may, the intraregional trade of China, Japan and South Korea on most occasions can and has exceeded 80 percent for the last twenty years, come rain or rain.

Malaysia is located in the hub of Southeast Asia...