Mahathir to visit China next month
PUTRAJAYA: The Prime Minister wants to visit China as early as possible to raise the “unfairness” in the contracts agreed to by the previous administration with the Middle Kingdom.
However, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said as Chinese President Xi Jinping is not available this month, the trip is now set for August.
“I want to go to China as early as possible but the president is not available this month.
“So, I will go in August,” he told reporters after chairing the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting here yesterday.
Dr Mahathir said he would raise the issue of the interest rates imposed on loans given to Malaysia.
“There are several issues to be brought up (with China), among which, is the unfairness of the terms of the contract and also the loan.
“The interest rate is also of concern to us. The interest rate is much higher than (when) governments borrow. Normally, when govern- ments borrow, it is at 3% and below but this one is very high,” he said.
On talks that the Council of Eminent Persons head Tun Daim Zainuddin would be going to China as well, Dr Mahathir said he believed that the trip was to negotiate some contracts.
It was reported that the Government would be sending a delegation to China later this month to renegotiate the contract costs for both the East Coast Rail Link and the two Suria Strategic Energy Resources Sdn Bhd projects.
Asked about his views on Khazanah Nasional as reported in a business website, Dr Mahathir said it was quite obvious that the sovereign wealth fund had strayed from its mission over the years.
“They are doing all sorts of funny things, buying houses, taking over companies,” he said, adding that Khazanah was initially formed to buy shares allocated to bumiputra, who had the “tendency to purchase and sell immediately to others”.
“So, to stop them from doing that, we created Khazanah. But now, Khazanah seems to be taking up all the shares on their own – whether they are meant for the bumiputra or not.
“Maybe they should go back to their original purpose,” he said.
Describing Dr Mahathir’s trip as good news and timely, Malaysia China Chamber of Commerce presi- dent Tan Yew Sing said there was a lot of pending issues on how to re-establish good relations between the two countries.
Malaysia, said Tan, had the right to review the development contracts with China as there were “irregularities” as well as having involved state government-linked companies on China’s part.