China, Malaysia will cooperate further despite temporary disagreements

It is unavoidable that issues will surface in the process of cooperation between China and Malaysia, and the two countries can solve such problems through negotiation, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said at a press conference before wrapping up his visit to China on Tuesday that two China-backed projects in Malaysia, including the East Coast Rail Link and the construction of two gas pipelines, have been cancelled for now.

Mahathir said that the current priority for Malaysia is to reduce its debt, according to the Malaysiabased New Straits Times.

“It is unavoidable that different views appear at different stages, but the two countries could solve such problems through negotiations based on their long-term and friendly bilateral relations,” Lu Kang, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, told a press briefing on Tuesday.

Chen Fengying, a research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, told the Global Times on Tuesday that “it is understandable that Malaysia chose to change its development strategy amid the country’s government transition, as well as a tight financial situation globally. Mahathir is quite pragmatic.”

“It also shows that the cooperation between China and the Belt and Road countries are based on a mutually beneficial mode, as well as the changing situations of different countries, and meantime conducted under the overall ‘Belt and Road’ framework,” Chen noted.