Malaysia is unlikely to meet the US request for increased defense spending due to economic limitations. The country aims to modernize its military while managing public finances and avoiding overt alignment with US China strategy.

Malaysia is unlikely to come close to a US call for Asian partners to spend 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence, analysts have said, as Putrajaya tries to modernise an ageing military without overwhelming public finances or appearing to align with Washington’s China strategy. Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the US had “every right” to ask allies to raise defence expenditure, but stressed that Malaysia faced limits as a developing economy. “For a country like Malaysia,.....