KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah defended today Tun Daim Zainuddin as the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s representative to negotiate key infrastructure deals with Beijing, without involving officials from the Foreign Ministry.

The foreign minister asserted that not every diplomatic visit requires his ministry’s involvement or that of government officials.

"In my view, there is nothing wrong in having a special envoy,” Saifuddin told reporters in the Parliament lobby after questions were raised about Daim’s authority during his Beijing trip where he reportedly renegotiated key deals the previous government had penned with Chinese firms.

"Sometimes we send the foreign minister, sometimes it’s the finance minister, sometimes it’s the economic affairs minister. It depends on a case by case basis,” he added.

Daim is a former minister and currently chairs the Council of Eminent Persons, an informal group of experts chosen by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad after the May 9 general election to advise his largely inexperienced Pakatan Harapan ministers in their first 100 days.

Saifuddin said that the most important factor is to secure a good relationship with China.

"The key is to maintain the relationship that we have with them, or even improve it, while at the same time, look back at some of the contracts,” he said.

Saifuddin said that Daim had briefed his ministry both before and after his China trip.