The original version of this article was published with an incomplete Acknowledgements section. The correct and complete section should read:

“This work was supported by Universiti Malaysia Sabah's Special Research Fund Scheme (Skim Dana Khas) grant number SDK0126-2020, “Crouching Tiger, Ascending Dragon: A Neoclassical Realist Interpretation of Malaysia's China Policy Transition in the Post-Barisan Nasional Era.” The first author would like to thank Professor Don Emmerson, who first juxtapozed ‘deference’ and ‘defiance’ as opposing behaviors in small-state-big power interactions at a RSIS-Stanford Workshop back in 2012. The authors thank Mingjiang Li, Ngeow Chow Bing, Fong Chin Wei and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and inputs. They also thank Zikri Rosli, Izyan Hay, and Fikry A. Rahman for their superb research assistance. The usual caveats apply.”