The Star thinks Dr M’s PH government will cancel China’s projects in Malaysia!

HSBC names veteran banker head of Asia belt and road initiative
April 09, 2018, 02:40:00 AM EDT聽By聽Reuters
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HONG KONG, April 9 (Reuters) - HSBC Holdings Plc said on Monday it had appointed its Malaysia CEO to the newly created position of head of Belt and Road initiative in Asia Pacific, as it bets on China's drive to build a modern-day Silk Road to help grow its business. Mukhtar Hussain, who first joined HSBC in 1982, will start in his new role on July 1, the London-headquartered bank, which made over 75 percent of its profits in Asia in 2017, said in a statement. Introduced in 2013, the Belt and Road project is aimed at building a modern-day economic Silk Road, connecting China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Central Asia, and beyond to the Middle East, Europe and Africa. In this new role, Hussain will spearhead key initiatives and relationships to grow HSBC's Asian Belt and Road business and drive collaboration across the bank's global businesses and international footprint, the lender said.

The Star thinks Dr M’s PH government will cancel China’s projects in Malaysia!

KUALA LUMPUR (May 2018): The Star Online report titled Embassy of China hopes to meet Dr M soon to promote cooperation is certainly dramatic, or even over dramatic.

The report had this paragraph: It is believed that the Embassy of China had sent a request for a meeting with Dr Mahathir, but there is no news up to now.

Is The Star so naive or is it resorting to such nonsensical news drama to beef up its image as the No.1 English newspaper in Malaysia?

“It is believed …” wow! Such a revelation and news scoop!

The newly elected Pakatan Harapan (PH) Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Dr M) has not even set up his Cabinet and The Star expects him to meet the Chinese Ambassador?

Furthermore, do you really believe there is an iota of possibility that the PH-led government would alienate China as a trading partner?

What rubbish and drama The Star news report has projected!

Like what Dr M has reiterated in his media conference since May 10, Malaysia will be friendly to the rest of the world in terms of trade and economics.

He also added that “Malaysia is a trading nation and thus it depends on the (global) market”.

“Malaysia will be friendly to all, irrespective of their domestic affairs or institutions. We won’t interfere, we only want to trade,” Dr M had said.

There is absolutely no risk of the PH-government scrapping Chinese investments and projects in Malaysia.

All Dr M said was that Chinese projects, especially the RM55 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), awarded to China Communications Construction Company in a closed tender last year would be reviewed or renegotiated if the deal inked by the former federal government was found to be lopsided and unfair to Malaysians and Malaysia.

It is most certainly naive of The Star to report that the ECRL is “at risk of cancellation”.

The ECRL, when completed, is set to be the Southeast Asia rail hub linking Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia to China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt Road Initiative (BRI) that has, to date, 69 member cities and countries.

You must be a moron to want to cancel such a project.

So, to The Star, please be more mature in your news reports. Dr M is not going to cancel the Chinese projects in Malaysia. And, he will meet the Embassy diplomats when he has settled down with his task of setting up a government that strives to achieve “good governance” status.

Here’s what The Star Online posted:

"Embassy of China hopes to meet Dr M soon to promote cooperation

NATION
Thursday, 17 May 2018
6:00 PM MYT
by ho wah foon



The Embassy of China hopes to meet with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad soon, amid reports that major projects from China in Malaysia will be reviewed.

“The Chinese side would like to engage with the new Government of Malaysia as early as possible, in order to further promote the cooperation between the two countries,” said Bai Tian, China’s ambassador to Malaysia.

In an email interview, he said:

“We are pleased to see Pakatan Harapan led by Tun Dr Mahathir win the 14th General Election. We view this as the choice of the Malaysian people and we fully respect it.”

It is believed that the Embassy of China had sent a request for a meeting with Dr Mahathir, but there is no news up to now.

Before the May 9 election, Dr Mahathir had made policy statements that China's projects here would be reviewed if Pakatan Harapan won.

BMI Research had said the RM55bil East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), awarded to China Communications Construction Company in a closed tender last year, was a project at risk of cancellation.

However, Bai Tian said that “China is ready to work closely with the new government for the sustained development of our bilateral relations.

"China is willing to make concerted efforts to further promote China-Malaysia ties to new heights.”

On China’s views of Dr Mahathir, he said: “Tun Dr Mahathir is a well-respected and long-time friend of the Chinese people. During his last service as Prime Minister (from 1981 to 2003), he visited China seven times and contributed to China-Malaysia relations.”

He noted that during Xi’s state visit to Malaysia in 2013, Xi had a separate meeting with Dr Mahathir even though the Prime Minister then was Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Dr Mahathir himself has disclosed that he had written to Xi, suggesting that the Belt and Road Initiative, propounded by Xi in 2013, should have larger trains on its overland route linking China, Europe and South-East Asia.

In fact, China is grateful that Dr Mahathir had given Beijing support in the face of warnings by the West on the “China threat”.

Although Malaysia-China ties was established in 1974 by Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, it was Dr Mahathir who eased the policy to allow direct trade with China.

This led to China becoming the largest trading partner of Malaysia.

Bai Tian also noted that after Dr Mahathir retired from office in 2003, he visited China several times and attended forums in China.

“We note after taking office as the Prime Minister again on May 10, Tun Dr Mahathir said he would mainly focus on local economic development, and the new government supports the Belt and Road Initiative.

“He also said that Malaysia welcomes FDI from all countries, including that from China. As China opens up wider to the outside world, more and more Chinese companies will come to invest in Malaysia because of their confidence in the country."

For details, go to
https://ilovemalaysiachinasilkroad.blogspot.my/2017/09/hsbcs-take-on-obor-part-1.html and
https://ilovemalaysiachinasilkroad.blogspot.my/2017/09/hsbcs-take-on-obor-part-2-final.html

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