Belt Road best way forward for M’sia, Asean – Yong
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia and other Asean countries have taken the correct strategic position to be engaged in the Belt Road Initiative.
Advisor of the Malaysia Maritime Silk Road Research Society and Sabah Maritime Silk Road Research Society, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, pointed out that it is beyond any doubt that the ongoing trade war between America and China is having an unprecedented major negative impact on the global economy.
“Economists and analysts are unanimous in their assessments that the trade war started by the US is hurting economies and ordinary people, including that of the US.
“The crude way that the US, under the Trump administration, tore apart international agreements has shown to the rest of the world that American leadership is no longer reliable,” Yong said in a statement yesterday.
Yong, a former chief minister, recalled that several Asian and Pacific countries, including Malaysia, were pressured by America to overcome domestic reservations to accept the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) in 2016.
TPPA was a trade pact signed in 2016 between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States.
A er a new US President took office in 2017, Yong said, the US unilaterally le the TPPA which, it must be remembered, was initiated and led by the US in the first place.
“This unpredictability of the US in world leadership was mentioned by the Prime Minister (Malaysia) as a reason for not relying too much on American leadership.
“It is therefore timely that the One Belt, One Road policy initiative by China in 2013 at Kazakhstan and Jakarta has begun to bear fruits for the economies along the Belt Road regions. There is no other multinational economic plan in sight that can stimulate the economies of so many countries,” he said.
According to Yong, the formation of the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), a multilateral development bank, under the Belt Road Initiative is a practical and welcome mechanism to allow Asian countries to invest in their own infrastructure and productive economy.
The AIIB consists of 97 countries, including most Asian countries, Canada, UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Russia with a portfolio of close to USD 100 trillion.
In spite of the relentless onslaught of western media campaign against the Belt Road concept, he said a closer look at the Belt Road initiative by the countries concerned have convinced these countries to stay with the Belt Road policy led by China.
“The Philippines, for example, even though it is a close ally of America, secured trade and investment deals worth USD12.6 billion when the Philippines President, Rodrigo Duterte, was in Beijing for the Second Belt Road Forum last month initiated by the Chinese President, Xi Jinping.
“In spite of the prevalence of the American news in the Philippines, Duterte has gained substantially in the Philippines mid-term elections this week. Malaysia, too, managed to overcome her earlier concerns that the good China-Malaysia relations might be affected by the issue of the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) and other China investments in Malaysia.
“By the time of the Second Belt Road Forum, a ended also by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the ECRL issue was se led successfully in a win-win manner. It was reassuring to both Malaysians and China that the Prime Minister had declared Malaysia’s full support for the Belt Road Initiative,” said Yong.
He added that the success of the Belt Road Summit in Beijing last month was the only global event that has injected energy into the economic growth of Asia, including South East Asia.
“Malaysia, which has seen its biggest fall in the stock market below the benchmark of 1,600 points and faced with ringgit depreciating, has taken the right path to forge closer economic ties with China.
“There is no issue of debt trap in Malaysia’s economic ties to China. For instance, even at its earlier cost of RM65.5 billion, the cost of the ECRL is only 7% of the total national external debt. This means that 93% of the current national debt of RM924.9 billion has nothing to do with China or the Belt Road Initiative.