DR M: WE WILL SPEAK UP AGAINST UNFAIR TRADE
It is to safeguard interests of developing nations, says PM
MALAYSIA will remain vocal against unfair trade to safeguard the interests of developing countries, says Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said any differing views were not surprising as the idea of free trade and globalisation came from developed nations. Less-developed economies, he said, cannot compete with their rich counterparts because the latter has economies of scale.
“(Developing countries) are limited to producing raw materials. No matter how much you export, you won’t become advanced. That’s why Saudi Arabia, although producing 11 million barrels of oil every day, still has not become a developed country.
“So we have to protect ourselves, especially our infant industries such as (the manufacturing of ) motor vehicles, kitchen equipment and white goods,” Dr Mahathir said in response to reports that he and several other Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders were at odds over free trade and globalisation.
He was speaking at a press conference after concluding his first day at the Apec annual summit here yesterday.
Dr Mahathir said the “small” nations did not voice out their view for fear of a potential backlash from developed countries.
“We are also afraid. But if we don’t voice out, the developed countries can do anything and we will become poor.”
Dr Mahathir said Japan previously could not sell the vehicles it produced. But it protected its industry and was able to produce good quality cars for export.
Malaysia, he said, would go ahead with the new national car project.
“A car is kind of a catalyst for manufacturing other products,” he remarked.
On the idea that Malaysia should focus on the next disruptive technology, he pointed out that car-manufacturing is evolving, technology-wise, and that there are some 4,000 different parts of a vehicle.
This, he said, makes it an engineering marvel if one masters it.
“And we (Malaysia) have mastered it in a short time. Now we can design and produce a good car. We can even produce the engine.”
On his meeting with Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam, he said Malaysia is keen to improve bilateral trade with the territory.
“Hong Kong is an advanced city, attracting 60 million tourists a year. There are many things we can learn from it.”
On his meeting with representatives from some US companies such as Google, FedEx and UPS, Dr Mahathir said it was to convince them that Malaysia under the Pakatan Harapan government remained business-friendly.
THE United States and China swapped barbs over trade, investment and regional security at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit yesterday, as growing fault lines among members suggested little prospect of consensus at the weekend meeting.
Speaking in the Papua New Guinean capital, US Vice-President Mike Pence said there would be no end to American tariffs until China changed its ways, after its president, Xi Jinping, warned that the shadow of protectionism and unilateralism was hanging over global growth.
Illustrating the impasse between the world’s two largest economies, a diplomat involved in negotiating an Apec leaders’ declaration said trade was a sticking point, and the host nation was having trouble finding language acceptable to all.
Pence took direct aim at Xi’s flagship Belt and Road programme, which China has been promoting to Pacific nations at Apec, saying countries should not accept debt that compromised their sovereignty.
“We do not offer constricting belt or a one-way road,” Pence told the Apec CEO summit, a precursor to the official leaders' meeting, held on a cruise liner tethered in Fairfax Harbour here.
China’s efforts to win friends in the resource-rich Pacific have been watched warily by the traditionally influential powers in the region — Australia and the US.
US President Donald Trump is not attending the Apec meeting, nor is his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Xi has been feted by PNG officials and stoked Western concern on Friday when he held a meeting with Pacific island leaders, in which he pitched the Belt and Road initiative.
Speaking before Pence, Xi said there was no geopolitical agenda behind the project, which was unveiled in 2013 and aimed to bolster a network of land and sea links with Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.
“It does not exclude anyone. It is not an exclusive club closed to non-members, nor is it a trap as some people have labelled it.”
There have been concerns that small countries that sign up for infrastructure projects will be left with debt burdens they cannot service, something Pence highlighted.
“Do not accept foreign debt that could compromise your sovereignty. Protect your interest. Preserve your independence. And just like America, always put your country first,” he said.
Sri Lanka formally handed over commercial activities in its main southern port of Hambantota to a Chinese company last December as part of a plan to convert US$6 billion (RM25.1 billion) of loans that Sri Lanka owed China into equity.
Soon after Pence spoke, Australia said it was joining the US and Japan in a partnership that would help countries in the region develop infrastructure priorities, a possible alternative to China's Belt and Road.