Chinese foreign minister to meet Mahathir on Tuesday
FMT Reporters | July 26, 2018
The meeting will be the first by a top Chinese leader since the May 9 polls.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will also call on Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah. (Reuters pic)
PETALING JAYA: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will hold talks with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported today.
There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity between the two sides following the suspension of several China-backed projects in Malaysia after Pakatan Harapan came into power.
Wang’s meeting with Mahathir will be the first by a top Chinese leader after the polls.
The news portal said Wang would be making his stop en route to meetings in Singapore with Asean foreign ministers.
Besides meeting Mahathir, Wang will also call on Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah as well as have dinner with members of the Council of Eminent Persons, which has been charged with carrying out institutional reforms.
The council’s chairman, Daim Zainuddin, who is a former finance minister, met Premier Li Keqiang and Wang Yi during a one-day visit to Beijing last week.
Mahathir is expected to visit Beijing in August.
Former prime minister Najib Razak, currently facing corruption charges linked to the state investment body 1MDB, had encouraged ties with Beijing and had supported its Belt and Road Initiative.
But since coming to power, Mahathir has criticised Najib for signing lopsided deals with Chinese companies which have added to the country’s debts.
The new PH government has suspended Chinese-backed projects worth US$23 billion (RM93.5 billion) and has called for renegotiations to reduce the prices.
Among them is the US$20 billion East Coast Rail Link to be built by the state-owned Chinese Communications Construction Company.
Mahathir had said Daim’s meeting with Li and Wang involved renegotiating loans and contracts with Chinese companies that were “too costly”.
Mahathir prefers foreign direct investment in industries and technology rather than real estate and infrastructure deals signed with Chinese firms by the previous administration.
Diplomatic exchanges
The SCMP news portal quoted Oh Ei Sun, a keen observer of Malaysia-China ties, as saying the latest diplomatic exchanges indicated both sides were “ironing out” a recalibrated economic relationship.
“As Malaysia now has a new government with a very different perspective on how investors should be, it is crucial for both governments to adjust their expectations on economic cooperation.
“Daim’s visit to Beijing and Wang Yi’s forthcoming visit to Malaysia should be viewed as efforts to iron out a new blueprint for the two countries’ already significant economic cooperation, in time for it to be formalised during Mahathir’s visit to China next month.
“The fact that both countries treat this readjustment process speedily testifies to the resilience of their relationship,” said Oh, who is the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute senior adviser for international affairs.
