KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 ― Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he would side with China over the US if pressed, but purely in terms of the former’s economic resources.
In an interview with the Alibaba Group’s South China Morning Post, Dr Mahathir said the unpredictability of the United States was a reason for this preference.
After recent friction with Beijing over infrastructure projects here, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia’s ties with China were not “static”. Instead, he stressed the overarching goal must be to find ways to work with China instead of succumbing to propaganda about the superpower.
For instance, the prime minister said that Malaysia would not be influenced by Western suspicions that Chinese telecommunications company Huawei was involved in spying.
“When China was poor, we were frightened of China. When China is rich, we are also frightened of China,” Dr Mahathir said in the interview.
“I think we have to find some way to deal with China. In the past, China exported communism to the region, including Malaysia, and was now spreading its influence through economic might,” he added.
Malaysia is currently conducting 5G mobile broadband trials in Cyberjaya together with Huawei.
The prime minister also said Malaysia historically has had fewer reasons to be suspicious of China, noting it never colonised Malaysia despite 2,000 years of proximity. He contrasted this to European nations that conquered the peninsula just two years after arriving in 1509.
The prime minister said Malaysia must also be pragmatic about China’s role as a major trading partner and investor.
He pointed out that Malaysia’s economic growth was largely driven by foreign direct investment.
“For now, Malaysia had to accept that China is close to us. And it is a huge market. We want to benefit from China’s growing wealth,” Dr Mahathir added.
However, he explained that while Malaysia would welcome China’s investments and economic resources, it was not receptive of its control or influence.
He also said China’s authoritarianism was not an element with which Malaysia would align itself.
When asked if he subscribed to the belief that China was locking partner nations in so-called “debt traps”, Dr Mahathir said the Chinese were shrewd in finding opportunities to expand their country’s influence through investments.
He also suggested that governments whose countries do become mired in the “debt traps” must accept some responsibility for their predicaments.
Dr Mahathir explained this was why Malaysia was disinclined towards projects funded by Chinese loans instead of direct investments.
“So it is up to the countries concerned to make sure that the money flowing into their country is not borrowed money, is not money for infrastructure, but maybe limited to money for investment in productive processes,” he continued.
On the East Coast Rail Link, the flagship of China’s Belt-Road Initiative here, he said talks were ongoing with Beijing on its future.
Dr Mahathir gave the interview ahead of his meeting with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila yesterday.
