{"id":38707,"date":"2026-06-11T05:41:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T05:41:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/38707\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T05:41:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T05:41:11","slug":"how-major-lng-deal-with-japan-signals-malaysia-as-rising-asean-middle-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/38707\/","title":{"rendered":"How major LNG deal with Japan signals Malaysia as rising Asean \u2018middle power\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/japan?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Japan<\/a>\u2019s signing of a 20-year LNG supply deal with Malaysia\u2019s <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/petronas?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Petronas<\/a> has cast the Southeast Asian country as a valuable energy and security partner, as Tokyo looks to protect itself from global supply shocks and deepen ties with trusted allies.The latest move also underscores how, amid the energy crisis, Asian nations are striking deals bilaterally, with <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/malaysia?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Malaysia<\/a> leveraging its vast natural resources to rise as a \u201cmiddle power\u201d, according to analysts.Under the agreement announced during Malaysian Prime Minister <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/anwar-ibrahim?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Anwar Ibrahim<\/a>\u2019s visit to Tokyo on Wednesday, the state-owned energy company will supply Japanese utility JERA with 2 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually from 2028.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Japan currently imports 15 per cent of its LNG from Malaysia, its second-largest supplier behind Australia.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Malaysia\u2019s reliability as an energy supplier has become more important for Japan as it seeks to manage exposure to supply routes such as the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for about 6 per cent of its LNG imports.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The prime ministers of Japan Sanae Takaichi (right) and Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim (left) attend a bilateral meeting at the Prime Minister\u2019s Office in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: EPA\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0884f5bf-a8fc-4e43-8bdb-1ea65d8dcc3d_9dfe4de5.jpg\" title=\"The prime ministers of Japan Sanae Takaichi (right) and Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim (left) attend a bilateral meeting at the Prime Minister\u2019s Office in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: EPA\"\/>The prime ministers of Japan Sanae Takaichi (right) and Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim (left) attend a bilateral meeting at the Prime Minister\u2019s Office in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: EPA<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">At the meeting, Anwar said Malaysia was committed to promoting open and stable trade with Japan, including for essential energy supplies such as LNG, as well as petroleum and chemical products such as naphtha and urea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s signing of a 20-year LNG supply deal with Malaysia\u2019s Petronas has cast the Southeast Asian country as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10895,2550,923,12,28572,14,28573,8,7046,12802,6663,33,28069,358,446,3720],"class_list":["post-38707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-anwar-ibrahim","tag-asean-summit","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-international-islamic-university-malaysia","tag-iran","tag-isis-malaysia","tag-japan","tag-jera","tag-kuala-lumpur","tag-malaysia","tag-nihon","tag-petronas","tag-sanae-takaichi","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-university-of-tokyo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}