Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad sought China's compassion toward his country's internal financial issues as the two countries pledged cooperation in promoting their bilateral ties, agreeing that cordial relationship should be built based on free and fair trade among nations.
Mahathir was on a five-day visit in China which started on Aug. 17. The prime minister took the opportunity on Monday to ask for China's understanding about Malaysia's decision to withhold major economic partnerships between the countries.
Particularly, Mahathir announced that he decided to postpone, for the meantime, the $20 billion contract for the China Communications Construction Company to build the East Coast Rail Link and the $2.5 billion agreement with a Chinese energy company to construct gas pipelines under China's One Belt One Road program. Mahathir said his country could no longer afford the supposed projects and as a leader, he is not inclined to borrowing more money which they might not be able to repay.
The New York Times reported the prime minister canceled the projects amid probes that his predecessor, Najib Razak, has buried Malaysia in more than $200 billion debt. Internal investigations have been looking into the possibility of graft and corruptions.
President Xi Jinping accepted Mahathir's decision cordially, hinting that he is not closing the doors just yet. Xi met with Mahathir on Aug. 21, during the latter's last leg of his five-day visit in China.
The Chinese president said China and Malaysia should have more in-depth strategic communications to maximize the country's favorable bilateral relations. Xi has in fact encouraged the Malaysian prime minister to engage in discussions with other ASEAN members that already gave their commitment for the Belt and Road Initiative.
Mahathir, on his meeting with China's premier Li Keqiang on Aug. 20, said his country can learn a lot about e-commerce and dealing with unemployment from Beijing. The prime minister added that Malaysia firmly believes in cooperation with China. In fact, he described his visit as fruitful and therefore pledged to work better in making the nation's ties stronger than ever.
Li, on the other hand, said China would scale up a two-way trade that amounted to $6.7 billion in 2017. The premier also promised to increase imports of Malaysian palm oil products and other agricultural produce.
Both leaders headed the signing of five agreements involving deals in agriculture, finance, and export of frozen durians. The two had taken turns in speaking at a joint conference at the Great Hall of the People.
