Translate

20 June 2018

Tun Dr Mahathir - I’m not against China, only lopsided deals. Companies like AliBaba welcomed!



Dr M: I’m not against China, only lopsided deals

FMT Reporters | June 20, 2018



The prime minister says in an interview with a Hong Kong daily that he welcomes Chinese investments as long as they boost local businesses and improve the lives of local workers.



Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says he has always regarded China as a good neighbour. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad says he wants good ties with Beijing and welcomes investments from China, but warns that such investments must benefit Malaysians and not be lopsided in China’s favour.


Mahathir, who had often spoken out against Chinese-backed mega projects in the country, had also accused Najib Razak’s government of “selling” Malaysia to China in exchange for help to settle debts linked to 1MDB.

Najib had secured about US$34.2 billion in deals from China.

In an interview with the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Mahathir said he welcomed investments but wanted deals that were transparent and which would benefit Malaysian businesses and workers.



He said these investments must create jobs for locals, transfer technology and skills, and broaden the global market for Malaysian products.

He said this was why he had welcomed ideas by Chinese tycoon Jack Ma regarding technology transfers during their meeting on Monday.

Mahathir, who is serving as prime minister for the second time, said Malaysia and China had developed “a very good relationship” during his first tenure in power.

“We sometimes become a spokesman for China, because everywhere I go, people ask me, ‘What do you think about China? Aren’t you afraid?’

“I say, ‘There’s nothing to be afraid of’. We have been neighbours for 2,000 years. You haven’t conquered us yet.

“I have always regarded China as a good neighbour, and also as a very big market for whatever it is that we produce. Malaysia is a trading nation. We need markets, so we can’t quarrel with such a big market,” Mahathir told SCMP.

One of the projects Mahathir had earlier spoken against was the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) project which was offered without tender to China Communications Construction Company.

He had criticised its RM55 billion price tag and voiced fears that the main contractor would source the bulk of its labour and material from China, as had been the case with many smaller Chinese-linked projects.

“When it involves giving contracts to China, borrowing huge sums of money from China, and the contract goes to China, and China contractors prefer to use their own workers from China, use everything imported from China, even the payment is not made here, it’s made in China… that kind of contract is not something that I welcome,” he told SCMP.

On his opposition to property developments such as the US$100 billion mixed development Forest City in Johor, Mahathir said he believed housing units in the project were beyond the reach of most Malaysians, and that it was likely to be populated mostly by affluent Chinese nationals.

“We don’t want to have whole cities built in Malaysia (by developers who then bring in) foreigners to stay there. That is what I am against. I am against it even if (the investment is) from India or from Arab countries or from Europe.

“Foreign immigrants in huge numbers, nobody will welcome, certainly not in Malaysia.”

On his meeting with Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba which owns the SCMP, Mahathir said Ma had spoken of the kind of investments that would get Mahathir’s approval.

Ma was appointed by Najib in 2016 as the government’s digital economy adviser.

“So his way of talking and presenting his case is totally different from the other big Chinese contractors who want only a contract here, not even hiring our workers; the workers are also imported from China,” Mahathir told SCMP.

Mahathir added that Ma’s ideas on rural development, helping children with their schoolwork and creating a cashless society to weed out corruption would be a good fit for Malaysia.

Mahathir said Ma had told him it would be useful for him to visit China and Hangzhou in particular, where Alibaba is based.

“I must see, because I can learn a lot from him. I have never felt any fear of China because, as I said… they never conquered us. But I think we will try and enhance the good relations with China,” Mahathir told the daily.


Popular Posts - Last 7 days

Popular Posts - Last 30 days

Blog Archive

LIVE VISITOR TRAFFIC FEED