In the final election, Mahathir finally defeated the long-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition he once belonged to, led by his scandal-tainted protégé-turned-rival Najib Razak.
Since taking office, the veteran politician has launched sweeping economic reforms that include an overhaul of China-backed infrastructure deals approved by Najib.
Mahathir considers among the deals, comparable to the 55 billion ringgit ($13.7 billion) East Coast Rail Link project to be built by China Communications Construction Company, to be too expensive and detrimental to Malaysia’s interests.
“I heard there will be reviews. So what? Our companies conduct reviews every quarter. We have to constantly conduct reviews to determine what is good and what is bad,” Ma said at the afternoon opening of Alibaba’s office in Malaysia.
“Before I came here, people said a lot of things about China-Malaysia relations,” he said. “[But] I got here here myself, I feel it, I touch it, I spent an hour with the Prime Minister this morning. “I even have numerous confidence in Malaysia, I even have numerous confidence in China, I’m very confident in the connection between Malaysia and China and I trust within the Chinese business community who come to Malaysia to take a position.”
Ma said it was natural that there could be “problems” between the 2 countries due to extent of their economic ties.
“If there is a problem, no problem,” Ma said, adding that solving problems was the job of “people like us.”
In a separate media interview, he compared the connection between Chinese firms and key overseas markets comparable to Malaysia to a wedding.
“When Chinese companies go anywhere, they should follow local rules and regulations, respect culture, and create value and jobs locally… I think Chinese companies will learn quickly.”
On the opposite hand, Ma stated that countries like Malaysia “cannot afford to lose a market as large as China.”
“It can be difficult to search out a rustic like China that may have 500 million middle-income people in 10 years… America’s total population can be lower than 300 million,” Ma said. “When doing business, you have to consider big markets, and small Malaysian companies have to think globally and think about China.”
Lim, Malaysia’s finance minister, agreed with Ma’s assessment on the long run of bilateral relations.
Alibaba’s recent Malaysian office is “a terrific example of China-Malaysia friendship based on mutual respect and advantages, which bodes well for cooperation from governments, enterprises and folks from each parts of the world,” he said in a speech on the opening ceremony.
Bai Tian, the Chinese envoy, said economic data gave the clearest picture of the state of relations. He revealed that the newest data shows that bilateral trade increased by 14.7 percent to $42.7 billion in the primary five months of this yr, in comparison with 2017.
Meanwhile, three Chinese firms invested 1.2 billion ringgit ($300 million) in Malaysia just weeks after the May 9 polls, the ambassador said.
“There is an English proverb that says, ‘We will not look at the tree, we should look at the forest,’” Bai told reporters when asked about an outline of China-backed projects.
Mahathir, talking to Lent in a separate exclusive interview on Monday, he said he “has rather a lot to learn” from Ma.
He said he was encouraged by a discussion with the Alibaba co-founder, which included proposals for using cutting-edge technologies comparable to cloud computing in schools and small businesses.
Initially, the meeting between the 2 sides at Mahathir’s office in Putrajaya was alleged to last about half-hour, but it surely prolonged to an hour.
Monday also announced the July “Malaysia Week” campaign to advertise Malaysian products, jointly organized by Alibaba and the Malaysian government.
Oh Ei Sun, a outstanding observer of China-Malaysia relations, said Ma and Mahathir’s comments suggested Malaysia would proceed to warmly welcome investments that “create jobs and transfer skills.”
“Mahathir has no malice towards Chinese investments in any respect. He simply believes that investments must be of the character described by him and be free from irregularities,” he said.
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: Jack Ma from Alibaba is optimistic about China’s ties with Malaysia
