Dr M: We're friendly with China but we must owe them less

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia under his administration will still maintain friendly relations with China, this while re-looking into financing agreements between the two countries.

During a press conference at the National Press Club in Tokyo today, Mahathir said Malaysian had to reduce its loans from China and re-establish their relationship as trading partners.

"Malaysia, in particular, had a leader at the time who was in love with big projects and big loans, loans that we cannot repay. That is his particular way of conducting friendship with China.

"We will still be friendly with China but we do not want to be indebted to China. So, we'll have to find ways and means to reduce the loans and establish the old relationship with China as a good trading partner," he said.

On China's Belt and Road initiative, Mahathir said that Malaysia was a small country and China being a major power, it would proceed with its plan whether or not Malaysia objected to it.

"What we have to do is (determine) how to make the best use of China's policy of trying to build the belt and road and the sea route and land route to the West.

"We'll try to make sure it's not exclusive, that other people can use the same route."

Mahathir had been very vocal on how the Najib Abdul Razak administration had committed to heavy lending from China to finance Malaysia's various infrastructure projects, many of which he and many experts deemed unviable.

These projects included the East Coast Rail Link and the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail. Both projects are under review as cancellations may result in severe penalties.

China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner for the last nine years, but foreign policy experts have said Mahathir in likely to use his current visit to Japan to increase foreign investment and reduce the country's dependency on China. -Mkini