Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Thursday that his country doesn’t pursue a policy of “Chinophobia” and desires to have interaction each Beijing and Washington, expressing hope that the 2 powers will resolve their differences.
Anwar, who’s attending the annual Nikkei conference in Tokyo, said China is a very important neighbor since it is growing economically and militarily.
“Although I maintain excellent relations with the United States, Japan and [South] “I believe it will be better for Malaysia and the region to continue cooperation with China,” he said.
“We will continue to engage and consider the United States an important ally while strengthening our cooperation with China.” He stressed that Beijing is “too close, too vital and too strategic to disregard.”
Anwar said Malaysia hopes China and the United States will “resolve their differences.” He also called on the United States to desert protectionism and respect competitiveness.
He later met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida and agreed to further strengthen their cooperation in quite a lot of areas, including maritime security, energy transition, cybersecurity and provide chain resilience, under bilateral ties that were upgraded to a comprehensive partnership last 12 months strategic .
Japan, a key U.S. ally within the region, views China’s growing influence as a threat and has strengthened security and economic ties with Asian countries, lots of which have territorial disputes with Beijing within the South China Sea.
Anwar also called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, defending his meeting last week with the militant group’s leaders within the Qatari capital Doha. He said it was not a move to advertise terrorism but to stop a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
The Malaysian leader criticized Washington for not doing enough to stop mass killings in Gaza.
“It is unlucky that the United States isn’t using all of its power, influence and resources to finish the killings. That’s all they asked for,” Anwar said.
He called for a peaceful solution and respect for the two-state solution “because that can ultimately bring peace.”
Anwar said the recent wave of pro-Palestinian student protests within the US reminded him of the anti-war movement in the course of the Vietnam War and said there had been a “systemic change” in current perceptions of the conflict.
