US expands IPEF: Malaysia and Thailand continue to balance between integration into the US security system and regional partnership with China under the RCEP

In early June 2024, Thailand and Malaysia joined the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the US initiative in the Indo-Pacific, completing domestic procedures to ratify the IPEF supply chain agreement. 

The agreement entered into force in February 2024 with the participation of Fiji, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, the United States, and Japan, which Malaysia and Thailand have now joined.

Separately, in June 2024, the IPEF Catalytic Capital Fund was launched under the leadership of Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. The fund will raise resources to launch innovative clean energy projects in partner countries.