China not to blame for ‘lopsided’ deals, says Putrajaya

The foreign minister says the deals were made by the Najib Razak administration and Chinese firms, and that some of these deals need to be renegotiated as they are lopsided.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia does not blame the Chinese government for deals, signed by the previous Najib Razak government and Chinese firms, that have been heavily criticised by Pakatan Harapan (PH), Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said.

Saifuddin told The Straits Times (ST) that the “campaign narrative is still relevant as far as these projects are concerned” and that Putrajaya would seek to renegotiate terms, referring to the attacks by PH against these mega projects during the May 9 election campaign.

“But our position is quite clear. We do not blame the Chinese government because their companies signed an agreement or several agreements with Malaysian companies under the auspices of the government of the day. So you can’t fault the Chinese government for that,” he was quoted as saying.

Malaysia stalled almost RM100 billion in infrastructure spending contracted to Chinese state firms, saying it needed to review these costly projects as the national debt had crossed RM1 trillion.

The PH government had also questioned the terms of these agreements, awarded without open tenders, such as payments based on time instead of progress of construction.

Among the mega projects is the East Coast Rail Link which joins the ports of Klang in the west to Kuantan in the east before heading north to the Thai border. The new government revealed that this would eventually cost RM81 billion, far in excess of the RM55 billion quoted by leaders of the previous administration.

Another is the construction of two gas pipelines worth more than RM10 billion. The contractor was paid 88% of the fee despite completing just 13% of the project.

Saifuddin told ST that Malaysia needed to negotiate, “if not all, most of the agreements that were signed”. He said while Malaysia welcomed foreign direct investments, it did not want lopsided arrangements.

“The Malaysia-China relationship has been there for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It is in the interest of both countries that we do even better in terms of bilateral relationship,” he was quoted as saying.

Beijing, ST reported, had signalled its readiness to talk terms with the Mahathir administration.

It quoted an “aide” to Dr Mahathir as saying the prime minister would travel to China on Aug 17 and that Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng was also planning a trip soon. - FMT