No. Malaysia does not appear on China's designated countries list for pets, and never has. Nineteen countries and regions are on it. That single absence is what forces every Malaysian dog and cat onto the rabies antibody route — and because no laboratory in Malaysia is accepted by Chinese customs, the blood has to leave the country before your pet does.
Introduction: a one-word answer with a three-month consequence
Malaysia is not on China’s designated countries list. The list names nineteen countries and regions, and Malaysia is not among them. The answer takes one word. Acting on it takes about three months, because the alternative route runs through a blood test that Malaysia cannot process locally.
Owners ask this hoping for a shortcut. If Malaysia were listed, the paperwork would shrink to a microchip, the official certificates and a clean inspection on arrival. It is not listed, so it does not shrink.
The useful part is what comes next. At My Pet Mover the list is the first thing we check on a Malaysia to China pet transport file, because it sets the calendar for everything after it.
Before the workarounds, it helps to see what the phrase means inside the regulation itself.
What “designated country or region” actually means to Chinese customs
It is a rabies classification, not a trade or diplomatic one. Chinese customs sorts arriving pets into designated and non-designated origins, then applies different evidence requirements to each. Being off the list does not block entry. It changes what you must prove before you fly.
The governing text is Announcement [2019] No. 5 of the General Administration of Customs, in force since 1 May 2019. The English translation sits on the Beijing municipal government site, the Chinese original with the General Administration of Customs.
Article II sets out three ways a pet skips the thirty-day quarantine. Read them side by side and the role of the list becomes obvious.
- From a designated country or region. A working electronic chip, the official certificates, and a pass at the on-site inspection. No blood test.
- From anywhere else, Malaysia included. The same chip and certificates, plus a rabies antibody report above 0.5 IU/ml from a laboratory Chinese customs accepts.
- Guide, hearing and search-and-rescue dogs. Chip, user certification and training certification, and a clean inspection.
The announcement itself does not contain the list. It states that the lists of designated countries or regions, accepted laboratories, and ports with isolation facilities are published separately by customs. Three registers, each revised on its own schedule.
Not sure which of the three routes your pet is on?
It is settled by origin and paperwork, months before departure. See how the Malaysia–China corridor is put together →
The nineteen names on China’s designated countries list
Nineteen entries appear on China’s designated countries list for pets. Ten sit in Asia and the Pacific, eight in Europe, one in the Caribbean. Six are not sovereign states at all, which matters when Malaysians ask whether a single state or region could qualify on its own.
The composition shows what China screens for: island nations, isolated territories and long-standing rabies-free jurisdictions. The same logic explains why Singapore quarantines Malaysian pets for thirty days while sitting on China’s list itself.
China’s Designated Countries And Regions For Pet Entry, Grouped By Region
| Region | Entries | Named on the list | Malaysia included? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia and the Pacific | 10 | New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Guam, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao | No |
| Europe | 8 | Iceland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Cyprus, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland | — |
| Caribbean | 1 | Jamaica | — |
| Southeast Asia beyond Singapore | 0 | None. Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are all absent | No |
Source: the designated countries and regions named by the State Council, published on english.gov.cn on 3 May 2019, under Announcement [2019] No. 5. Regional grouping by My Pet Mover. GACC revises the register — confirm the current version before booking.
Note that several entries are not countries at all: French Polynesia, Hawaii, Guam, Hong Kong and Macao. China will list a region rather than a whole state. Malaysia appears at neither level.
Why Malaysia is not listed, and whether that can change
Malaysia held rabies-free status in July 2013 and lost it. An outbreak declared in Sarawak in July 2017 is still running. Chinese customs reads country-level rabies status, and by that measure Malaysia has been an affected country every year since.
What Malaysian owners find frustrating is that the outbreak is regional, not national. In the country update Malaysia’s Department of Veterinary Services and Ministry of Health presented to the ASEAN rabies consultation in February 2025, Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Labuan are shown as free from rabies. Sarawak is shown as affected.
So a Kuala Lumpur dog lives in a rabies-free region of a rabies-affected country, and China’s register works at the level above that. Could Peninsular Malaysia be listed on its own, the way Hawaii and Guam are? Possible in principle. Nothing published suggests it is in progress.
Malaysia’s rabies record, as an importing country would read it
Malaysia recorded no human rabies cases from 2000 to 2016 and declared rabies-free status in July 2013. The Sarawak outbreak declared in July 2017 ended that. By September 2025 the state had recorded 85 human cases and 78 deaths since the declaration.
Laid out chronologically, the record explains the classification better than any argument about fairness does.
Malaysia’s Rabies Timeline, 1998 To The 2030 Target
| When | What was recorded | How an importing country reads it |
|---|---|---|
| 1998–1999 | Last human rabies case in 1998; last canine rabies case in 1999 | Clean run begins |
| 2000–2016 | No human rabies cases recorded for seventeen years | Strong record |
| July 2013 | Rabies-free status recorded | Strongest position Malaysia has held |
| July 2017 | Rabies outbreak declared in Sarawak | Country reclassified as affected |
| February 2025 | 1,123 animal cases recorded, all in Sarawak; 88.87% canine, 10.95% feline | Outbreak contained to one state, but active |
| September 2025 | 85 human cases and 78 deaths since 2017; 278,840 animals vaccinated | Still affected |
| 2030 target | Zero rabies deaths; Sarawak targeting eradication | The earliest realistic reclassification window |
Sources: the Malaysia country update presented by the Department of Veterinary Services and the Ministry of Health to the ASEAN Rabies Consultation Meeting, February 2025; and the Department of Veterinary Services Sarawak, 20 September 2025. Interpretation column by My Pet Mover. Figures are point-in-time — confirm current status with the authority.
One line is worth pausing on. The 2030 target is the earliest point at which a reclassification conversation could plausibly start, and even then the register is China’s to revise, not Malaysia’s.
Working backwards from a fixed arrival month?
The antibody route adds weeks that most owners discover far too late. Start with what China asks of the blood test →
What being off the list actually changes for your dog or cat
One requirement changes: the rabies antibody report. Everything else — microchip, certificates, one pet per person, on-site inspection, any port, no quarantine — is identical for a Singapore pet and a Malaysian pet. That single addition is what stretches the timeline.
Set the two routes side by side and the gap is narrower than most guides imply, but heavier than it looks.
Designated-Origin Pet Versus Malaysian Pet, Requirement By Requirement
| Requirement | From a designated country | From Malaysia | Differs? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the two routes part | |||
| Rabies antibody report | Not required | Required, above 0.5 IU/ml | Yes |
| Where the blood is tested | Not applicable | A laboratory on China’s accepted register — none of which is in Malaysia | Yes |
| Extra lead time | None | Weeks, for sampling, shipping and reporting | Yes |
| Where the two routes are identical | |||
| Electronic microchip | Required, must read | Required, must read | No |
| Official quarantine and vaccination certificates | Required | Required | No |
| Animals per traveller | One dog or one cat | One dog or one cat | No |
| Ports available if conditions met | Any port | Any port | No |
| If a condition fails | Designated port, 30 days | Designated port, 30 days | No |
Sources: Articles I and II of Announcement [2019] No. 5, in force from 1 May 2019; laboratory and certificate conditions per USDA APHIS for pet travel to China, last modified 11 February 2026. Comparison by My Pet Mover for a Malaysian departure.
The bottom half of that table is the part worth remembering. Malaysian pets are not second-class arrivals. They land at the same ports, on the same terms, with the same absence of quarantine — as our guides on China’s designated ports of entry for pets and the one pet per person entry limit set out.
The laboratory problem almost nobody mentions
China does not accept results from any Malaysian laboratory. The accepted register has never included one. So the sample is drawn in Malaysia and flown to an accepted laboratory abroad, which is where most of the extra weeks in the schedule actually go.
This is the practical sting in Malaysia’s absence from the list, and almost every guide on the topic leaves it out. The register was first published with 62 laboratories across 37 countries as of April 2019. It has grown since, but never to include Malaysia.
Accepted Rabies-Antibody Laboratories In Asia And The Pacific
| Country | Accepted labs | Share of the regional total | What it means for a Malaysian sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 6 | Destination-side, not a pre-departure option | |
| Republic of Korea | 5 | Viable, well-served air freight route | |
| Japan | 2 | Viable | |
| Thailand | 1 | Nearest accepted laboratory to Malaysia | |
| Cambodia | 1 | Regional option | |
| Australia | 1 | Longer transit | |
| India | 1 | Regional option | |
| Malaysia | 0 | — | Sample must leave the country |
| Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines | 0 | — | No nearer alternative |
Counts by My Pet Mover from the customs register of accepted rabies-antibody laboratories, version dated 15 August 2025, established under Announcement [2019] No. 5 and maintained on the customs website; the 62-laboratory baseline is from english.gov.cn, 3 May 2019. Bars scale against the largest count. The register is revised without notice — confirm it with GACC before drawing blood.
Two consequences follow. Your Malaysian vet draws the sample and completes the export paperwork but cannot issue the result, a process covered in our guide to pet export from Malaysia. And the clock starts at the sampling date, not the reporting date, so a slow courier eats validity you have already paid for.
The sample leaves Malaysia before your pet does.
We handle the draw, the shipment and the reporting window as one sequence, so nothing expires while something else is still in transit. See what pet relocation from Malaysia costs →
Three registers, and the mistakes people make confusing them
China publishes three separate registers under the same announcement: designated countries, accepted laboratories, and ports with isolation facilities. They do different jobs and change on different dates. Treating them as one list is the error behind most bad advice on this corridor.
We re-check all three on every China file. The four misreadings below come up constantly.
| What you will read | What the rules actually say |
|---|---|
| “Malaysia is not on the list, so your pet must be quarantined” | No. A valid antibody report above 0.5 IU/ml exempts a Malaysian pet from quarantine entirely. |
| “The country list and the port list are the same list” | Two separate registers. The country list decides whether a blood test is needed; the port list decides where a quarantine-bound animal may land. |
| “Any accredited lab result will be accepted” | Only laboratories on China’s own accepted register count. Local accreditation is irrelevant to Chinese customs. |
| “Fly via a listed country and you inherit its status” | A stopover triggers that country’s own import rules and does not change your pet’s origin in China’s eyes. |
The last one is the most expensive. Routing through Singapore to borrow its designated status does not work, and Singapore applies its own thirty-day quarantine to Malaysian pets on the way in. If quarantine does land on your file, our guide on how to avoid China’s 30-day pet quarantine sets out what can still be fixed.
One habit protects you from all four: treat any of the three registers quoted without a date as unverified.
Conclusion: a no that costs weeks, not the move
Malaysia is not on China’s designated countries list and is unlikely to be soon. That costs a blood test, a courier leg and several weeks of lead time. It does not cost you the move, and it does not cost your pet a day of quarantine if the sequence is run properly.
Most Malaysia to China moves that go wrong do not fail on the list. They fail because the owner found out about it late, booked a flight, then discovered the sample had to leave the country first.
Run it in the right order and the rest is ordinary planning. Confirm the microchip reads, get the rabies vaccination current and recorded against it, draw the blood, ship it, then book around the result. The Malaysian groundwork sits in our guides on microchip rules and rabies vaccination requirements, and the full route in the Malaysia to China corridor guide.
Moving a pet from Malaysia to China?
Tell us your destination city and target arrival month. We will map the vaccination, blood draw, laboratory shipment and certificate against your calendar and tell you the earliest date your pet can realistically fly.
Frequently asked questions
1. Is Malaysia on China’s designated country list for pets?
No. Nineteen countries and regions appear on China’s designated countries list, and Malaysia is not one of them. No Southeast Asian country except Singapore is listed. A Malaysian dog or cat therefore enters China under the non-designated route, which requires a rabies antibody report in addition to the microchip and official certificates.
2. Which countries are on China’s designated list?
New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Guam, Jamaica, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Cyprus, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macao. That is nineteen entries, five of which are territories or regions rather than sovereign states. GACC revises the register, so confirm the current version before planning around it.
3. Does my pet have to be quarantined because Malaysia is not listed?
No, provided the antibody route is completed properly. A Malaysian pet with a working microchip, the official certificates, a rabies antibody result above 0.5 IU/ml from a laboratory China accepts, and a pass at the on-site inspection enters without quarantine and may use any port. Miss any one of those and it becomes a designated port with thirty days.
4. Can the blood test be done in Malaysia?
The sample can be drawn in Malaysia by your veterinarian, but no Malaysian laboratory appears on China’s accepted register, so the sample must be shipped abroad for testing. The nearest accepted laboratories in the region sit in Thailand and Cambodia, with others in Korea, Japan, India and Australia. Confirm the current register before drawing blood.
5. Why is Malaysia not on the list when Peninsular Malaysia is rabies-free?
Because China classifies by country, not by state. Malaysia’s own veterinary authorities describe Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Labuan as free from rabies and Sarawak as affected, with an outbreak running since July 2017. At national level Malaysia remains a rabies-affected country, which is the level China’s register reads.
6. Could Malaysia be added to the designated list later?
It is possible. China lists sub-national regions such as Hawaii, Guam and Hong Kong, so a regional listing is not unprecedented. But Malaysia’s rabies target is zero deaths by 2030, and nothing published suggests a change is in progress. Plan on the antibody route for any move in the next few years.
