134 billion reasons for Mahathir not to rethink Chinese investment
Fears that multibillion-dollar deals between China and Malaysia may no longer have a friend at the top may be premature – after all, the new prime minister has 134 billion reasons to maintain the status quo
For years, Chinese and Malaysian officials have cheered their ambitious economic collaborations. But for now, at least, it seems the cheering is over.
Mahathir Mohamad, often a vocal critic of Chinese investment deals while outside the circle of power, now sits in the centre of it as the new prime minister. Now all eyes are on how he will walk the talk.
The 92-year-old politician, who last week defied the odds to unseat Najib Razak in the general election, has already said he will be re-examining all China-linked projects in the country, ringing early alarm bells for jittery analysts and economists.
While many view his victory as a threat to Chinese investment, the long-term economic outlook remains positive. Trade relations between China and Malaysia, the conventional wisdom goes, are too big to fail.
“We need to study all the things done by the previous government,” Mahathir said on Thursday before being sworn in as the country’s seventh prime minister. “It’s not only about China, it’s about a lot of things.”
“China has a long experience of dealing with unequal treaties and China dealt with them by renegotiating,” he said, adding that Malaysia would renegotiate any agreements it felt were lopsided.