Exclusive | I’d side with rich China over fickle US: Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad
- Malaysia will make its own way in dealing with China’s rise and not take cues from Western scaremongering over Huawei and the belt and road strategy, says PM
- He spoke to the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview, his first with overseas media this year
He pointed to the current state of unpredictability of the American superpower as a negative factor when asked about the impact of Sino-American tensions on other, smaller nations in the region.
In a wide-ranging and exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post focused on his Southeast Asian nation’s foreign policy, Mahathir said Malaysia’s strong ties with China were not “static” over time or issues.
Rather, the overarching goal must be to find ways of working with the rising power rather than to let fears about its ascent cloud the government’s judgment. In particular, he said Malaysia would not be swayed by Western scaremongering that the Chinese telecom firm Huawei was involved in spying.
“When China was poor, we were frightened of China. When China is rich, we are also frightened of China,” he said. “I think we have to find some way to deal with China.”
But even though Malaysia learned to navigate the relationship, Mahathir offered a perspective from history: “We always say, we have had China as a neighbour for 2,000 years, we were never conquered by them. But the Europeans came in 1509, in two years, they conquered Malaysia.”
