Chinese Investments: Malaysia Dares Something Sri Lanka, Pakistan, And Philippines Didn’t
Posted on April 14th, 2019
In dealing with China, Malaysia has dared to do something Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the Philippines didn’t: bring Beijing back to the negotiating table to cut the cost of the investment projects assigned to Chinese contractors.
This week, China agreed to cut the cost of East Coast Rail Link project by one-third.
The new deal is a big win for Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. He made good on his election campaign promise to re-negotiate China’s investments in the country, which served the interests of Beijing more than they served the interests of Kuala Lumpur.
The East Coast Rail is one of the dozens of China’s infrastructure projects around the world – a bid to write the next chapter of globalization and advance Beijing’s geopolitical agenda.
China has political and military ambitions to fill this void,” says Xiaomeng Lu, China practice lead at Access Partnership, a global public policy consultancy for the tech sector. Chinese President Xi aims to realize the ‘great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’ by projecting power overseas through the Belt and Road” initiative, which covers both Southeast Asia and Africa. This political economy effort is paired with China’s growing military might in the South China Sea and the African continent, posing a growing challenge to the U.S. security umbrella worldwide.”
The trouble is that many of China’s infrastructure projects aren’t economically viable, as they are built at inflated costs and leave countries involved heavily indebted to Beijing.
That’s what happened to Sri Lanka.
April 14th, 2019 at 6:05 pm
Excellent work by Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Instead of abandoning the project, Malaysia negotiated tough and got the cost down. Sri Lanka totally failed. We should have negotiated tough. But then there is no Mahathir Mohamad equal in Sri Lanka and there will not be one for a few more decades.
April 14th, 2019 at 11:26 pm
The cost of Chinese projects are cheaper compared to the cost of similar projects by others.
But then when it comes to business it is a matter for the parties to negotiate.
It may be Malaysia is very important to China.
April 17th, 2019 at 1:49 pm
This is because they are not seeking commissions and the Malaysians are progressive and business like, unlike our uneducated and crooked buffoons running the country.