CRITICISING and blaming Chinese investments in Malaysia is an attempt by certain quarters to change public perception, said panellists at a forum last night.

Geopolitical expert Professor Dr Azmi Hassan said even though China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative kicked off in 2013, the matter of Chinese investments in Malaysia was not brought up until only recently.

“Scapegoating China is all part of their political games. It is an attempt at changing public perception by certain parties.

“Looking back at 2013, China was a non-issue then. The fall guy was the US. Malaysia and China have long invested in one another.

“If we look at the investments from 2013 till now, China remains at No. 4. The US is still No. 1. But, China is the fall guy now,” he said at the Chinese Investments in Malaysia: What is the Issue? forum, organised by Agenda Daily, in Shah Alam.

Despite not naming the parties concerned, his comments were seen as referring to the opposition.

The lecturer at the Perdana School at University Teknologi Malaysia said Chinese investments were monitored and kept in check by government agencies like the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).

“I am confident in MIDA. MIDA regulates, while China just follows.”

Umno Youth exco Sharil Hamdan said the accusations made against China were baseless, as the facts showed that foreign direct investments (FDIs) were carried out transparently.

“In terms of China being made the scapegoat… the data shows that investments amount to RM15 billion. The total FDI is RM558 billion. This is not even 3% compared with other countries.”

Malaysia sees higher FDIs from southern neighbour Singapore and Japan, with whom the country has been trading since the 1980s.

Another panellist, security consultant Captain Rahmat Omar, denied that Umno’s ties with the Communist Party of China were a matter of concern.

He said Malaysia always practised open diplomacy, and former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein had formed ties with China in 1974 after the country stopped backing the Communist Party of Malaya.

“Malaysia has always taken the ‘limited bandwagon’ approach. It is not pro-West, nor is it pro-China. It is always ‘I am good to him, and I am good to you’.”

He said when Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in power, the former prime minister had good ties with the Chinese government.

“Dr Mahathir himself has said if China wanted to conquer us, it would have done so 2,000 years ago.

“Dr Mahathir himself said the Chinese make good trading partners.”

Now, the 93-year-old Pakatan Harapan chairman is among Prime Minister Najib Razak’s staunchest critics, and has claimed that Najib’s administration is selling the nation’s sovereignty to China.

The prime minister, in turn, has defended the close ties between his government and China, rubbishing the opposition’s claims as baseless.

He said Chinese investments were a two-way street, and Malaysia had invested out when it was appropriate.

There has been a rise in the number of Chinese projects in recent years, including the East Coast Rail Link, at a cost of US$13 billion (RM51 billion), Malacca gateway (US$10 billion) and Forest City in Johor (US$100 billion). – January 25, 2018.