FEBRUARY 6 — When Narendra Modi visited Malaysia, it was tempting to read the trip through familiar lenses: diaspora ties, historical goodwill, and growing people-to-people exchanges. Yet to do so would miss the larger point.

Modi’s visit came at a moment when India’s global standing is being reshaped less by rhetoric and more by hard economic leverage — leverage that is now influencing decisions as far away as Washington, DC.

India’s ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations with the European Union, coupled with recent concessions from the United States — including a reduction of US tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent — point to a quiet recalibration in global diplomacy. 

India is no longer merely a strategic partner to be courted; it is an economic actor whose choices compel adjustment.

Seen in this light, Modi’s stop in Malaysia was not peripheral to these developments. It was part of the same strategic story.

Why Malaysia matters in India’s global play

Malaysia occupies a unique position in India’s external calculus. 

It sits astride major maritime trade routes, is deeply embedded in Asean’s economic architecture, and bridges links to the Islamic world, East Asia, and global capital markets.

For India, engaging Malaysia is not a symbolic exercise. 

It is a way of signalling that its expanding global footprint will not bypass Southeast Asia, even as it deepens engagement with Europe and the United States.

For Malaysia, the visit reinforces its relevance as a middle power that remains diplomatically connected to multiple centres of gravity. In an era of sharpening great-power competition, relevance increasingly comes from optionality — from being able to engage without being absorbed.

Washington’s quiet recalibration

The clearest sign that India’s leverage has grown lies not in speeches, but in outcomes.

The United States’ decision to reduce tariffs on Indian exports to 18 per cent marks a shift from years of trade friction and stalled negotiations. 

Equally significant is India’s agreement to cease purchasing Russian oil, a move that aligns New Delhi more closely with Western energy and sanctions priorities.

What stands out is not simply what India agreed to, but how. These decisions were not extracted through public pressure or diplomatic arm-twisting. 

They came at a moment when India’s bargaining power was enhanced — buoyed by advancing trade talks with Europe and expanding diplomatic engagement across Asia, including Malaysia.

In other words, alignment followed confidence, not constraint.

Europe as catalyst, not rival

India’s renewed engagement with the European Union has played a catalytic role in this process. 

Europe’s willingness to negotiate seriously on tariffs, standards, and regulatory convergence exposed a long-standing weakness in US–India relations: the lack of meaningful economic depth.

Rather than resisting this shift, Washington has adapted. 

Lower tariffs, sector-specific deals, and renewed trade dialogue are efforts to remain economically relevant to India without the political costs of a full-scale free trade agreement.

Europe did not pull India away from the United States. It pushed Washington to engage more seriously.

Energy decisions and strategic credibility

India’s move away from Russian oil has broader implications. It addresses a persistent source of unease in Western capitals about India’s strategic reliability. 

At the same time, the timing of the decision allows New Delhi to preserve its image as an autonomous actor rather than a compliant one.

For Malaysia and other middle powers, this sequence matters. 

It demonstrates that credibility in today’s international system is increasingly built through calibrated choices rather than rigid alignments.

Countries that retain economic options tend to make more sustainable strategic decisions.

What this means for Malaysia

For Malaysia, Modi’s visit underscores an important reality: Southeast Asia remains central to global strategic calculations, even as attention shifts between Washington, Brussels, and New Delhi.

Malaysia benefits when major powers see value in engagement rather than exclusion.

India’s rise, if anchored in plural partnerships rather than exclusive blocs, creates space for ASEAN states to navigate global competition without being forced into binary choices.

It also highlights the importance for Malaysia of maintaining its own economic and diplomatic optionality — through trade diversification, strategic neutrality, and active participation in regional and global forums.

A changing grammar of power

Taken together — India’s EU trade momentum, US tariff reductions, India’s energy recalibration, and Modi’s Malaysia visit — these developments point to a broader shift in how power is exercised.

Influence today flows less from dominance than from choice. 

States that can engage multiple partners on credible terms shape outcomes simply by deciding where and how to engage.

India has learned this lesson well. 

By expanding its economic options, it has encouraged others to adjust — not through confrontation, but through accommodation.

Malaysia’s role in this story is not incidental. 

It reflects how middle powers, when strategically positioned, remain relevant in a rapidly evolving global order.

In a world that is increasingly fragmented but not chaotic, relevance belongs to those who still have choices — and know how to use them.

* Phar Kim Beng is a professor of Asean Studies at the Institute of International and Asean Studies, International Islamic University of Malaysia. 

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.