In a development resembling a prime-time corporate thriller, Taiwan has officially paused high-level investment protection negotiations with Malaysia.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei confirmed that Taipei has suspended a series of bilateral investment treaty negotiations originally scheduled for late October.

Officially, this freeze follows Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s August interview with Al Jazeera, where he restated Malaysia’s long-standing “One China” policy, saying, “I see Taiwan as part of China, period.”

The friction intensified when he compared a potential military conflict across the Taiwan Strait to Malaysia using its own army to stop a domestic state from breaking away.