Debt-laden Malaysia ‘wants fair and free’ trade with China
20.08.2018 (The Star Online) - Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for fair trade and help from Beijing to tackle the financial problems facing the Southeast Asian nation.
But Mahathir also put on a positive front with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on Monday, with the two leaders overseeing the signing of agreements on currency swaps and plans to increase imports of Malaysian frozen durian and palm oil.
The new Malaysian prime minister is in China seeking to renegotiate billions of dollars of China-led investment projects in his country, many of which were endorsed by Mahathir’s predecessor, Najib Razak, who is now enveloped in a corruption investigation.
Neither Li nor Mahathir mentioned the projects during their joint press conference on Monday, but Mahathir said his country wanted not only free but also fair trade with China.
“I agree with you. Free trade is the way to go. And of course free trade should also be fair trade,” Mahathir, said responding to a comment from Li.
“We also hope to get China to understand the problems we face by Malaysia today.
“And I hope that China and I believe that China will look sympathetically towards the problems that we have to resolve and perhaps help us in resolving some of our internal fiscal problems.”
Uncertainty has hung over relations between China and Malaysia since Mahathir came to power in May. He has announced plans to review at least three major Beijing-led projects, including the US$20 billion East Coast Rail Link and two pipeline projects worth a combined US$2 billion.
But Beijing has been eager to use Mahathir’s visit to present a united front with Malaysia, China’s biggest trading partner among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), amid an escalating trade war with the United States.
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Li said Beijing would not change its “friendly approach” towards Kuala Lumpur despite the change in administration, and stressed that China and Asean shared “a common interest in global free trade”.
“I believe Prime Minister Mahathir wants to express our common position on free trade,” he said.
“No matter what changes happened in our two countries, China-Malaysia ties have been solid, stable and upwards.”
Mahathir also said he would work to improve ties with China despite “ups and downs” and that Malaysia did not “believe in confrontation with any country”.
“Malaysia has a policy of being friendly to every country in the world irrespective of their ideologies,” he said.
Mahathir will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday night, and wrap up his China trip on Tuesday.