DR Mahathir Mohamad might have to tamper his hard stance against Chinese investments, as Malaysia faces a weakening economy and mounting debt, said Global Times, a Beijing-owned newspaper.

During his first official visit to China since becoming prime minister in May, Dr Mahathir repeatedly said Putrajaya welcomes Chinese investments, an obvious shift in tone from his earlier announcements that several Chinese mega-projects in Malaysia would be scrapped.

At a business forum in Beijing yesterday, Dr Mahathir gave his assurance that Malaysia was friendly to investors, following concerns raised by participants on Putrajaya’s scrapping of several Chinese mega projects.

“We think that with China prospering, possibly, we could have a share in China’s prosperity by improving our relationship with China, by having more Chinese investments in Malaysia… so we welcome your investments in Malaysia,” Dr Mahathir was quoted as saying.

“We are not against Chinese companies, but we are against borrowing money from outside and having projects which are unnecessary, and which are very costly,” he said.

“It’s not about the Chinese. It’s about the Malaysian government.”

His shift in tone comes at the heels of Bank Negara Malaysia’s lowering of the economic growth forecast for 2018 to 5%, from the earlier 5.5%-6% projection.

But despite his assurances, the newspaper said Dr Mahathir’s trip, which includes visits to some of China’s top companies, such as e-commerce giant Alibaba Group and drone-maker DJI Innovations, noticeably lacks business deals, except for the signing of a previously announced deal between Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely and Proton.

Liu Yonghao, chairman of agriculture-focused company New Hope Group, said his company was keen to invest in Malaysia, but has serious concerns about Malaysia’s investment environment.

“(Dr Mahathir) told us that Malaysia welcomes Chinese investments, but I noticed that some Chinese projects in Malaysia faced setbacks and problems, so I need greater reassurance,” Liu said.

After coming into power following Pakatan Harapan’s victory in the 14^th general election, Dr Mahathir announced the scrapping of the 688km East Coast Rail Link and two gas pipelines inked between former prime minister Najib Razak and Beijing in 2016.

Dr Mahathir cited the projects’ ballooning costs, estimated at more than RM90 billion as the reason for the cancellations. – August 20, 2018.