Mahathir believes China will sympathise with Malaysia’s problems, Latest World News - The New Paper
World

Mahathir believes China will sympathise with Malaysia’s problems

This article is more than 12 months old

Mahathir hopes to relook more than $27b worth of Chinese-funded projects negotiated by former PM Najib

BEIJING: Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday he believed China would sympathise with his country's "internal fiscal problems" as he seeks to renegotiate, or possibly cancel, more than US$20 billion (S$27 billion) in Chinese-funded projects.

Dr Mahathir said after meeting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing he did not believe in confrontation with any country and stressed the benefits Malaysia stood to gain from increased exposure to Chinese trade, technology and entrepreneurship.

"We hope also to get China to understand the problems being faced by Malaysia today," Dr Mahathir told a joint news conference with Mr Li.

"I believe that China will look sympathetically towards the problems that we have to resolve and perhaps helping us to resolve some of our internal fiscal problems," he said.

Dr Mahathir did not mention the projects in question but he vowed repeatedly before his China visit to discuss what he called "unfair" Chinese infrastructure deals authorised by former premier Najib Razak.

Najib courted Chinese investment and was a cheerleader for President Xi Jinping's signature Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia during his decade-long rule, but Dr Mahathir has questioned the value of the deals and the risk that they would leave Malaysia "indebted" to China.

Dr Mahathir made no mention of Low Taek Jho, the Malaysian financier wanted for his role in the multi-billion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.

TRADE BALANCE

Mr Li said China hoped that a further expansion in trade ties with Malaysia would result in greater balance in two-way trade and that China was ready to increase "to a fairly large extent"imports of palm oil and other agricultural produce to meet the needs of Chinese consumers.

China is Malaysia's third-largest export market after India and the European Union.

He said consensus reached during talks and a raft of memorandums of understanding signed during Dr Mahathir's visit, including on a bilateral currency swap, palm oil, rubber and durian imports, sent a message that the two countries would "remain friendly to each other in the long term".

However, Dr Mahathir, who turned 93 last month, offered only a qualified endorsement when Mr Li, addressing him directly, asked whether he believed they had consensus on upholding free trade.

"I agree with you that free trade should be the way to go but of course free trade should also be fair trade," Dr Mahathir said.

"We do not want a situation where there is a new version of colonialism happening because poor countries are unable to compete with rich countries," he said.

The centrepiece of China's Belt and Road infrastructure push in Malaysia is the ambitious US$20-billion East Coast Rail Link project, work on which has been suspended pending discussions over pricing. - REUTERS

WORLD