Prime Minister of Malaysia Tells Philippines To “Be Very Careful” with Chinese Loans
MALAYSIA – Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad told the Philippines to be carefully deal with loans from the Chinese.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte plans to spend a huge amount of money just to provide progress in the infrastructure of the country.
To accomplish the president’s plans, he has to ask for funding from other countries and Beijing, China.
The Philippines now has a warm relationship with the Republic of China. In fact, President Xi Jinping visited the country and meet with President Duterte.
However, the conflict between the two countries regarding the South China Sea is not yet settled. In a report, the US promised to defend the PH against any attack.
Based on a report from Philstar, Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad advised the Philippines that they should be careful with a
“This is something that of course China has been accused of, but it is also the country’s concern which can regulate or limit all these influences from China”
The prime minister shared expressed this concern based on the experience of his government from the Chinese infrastructure projects.
According to the report, Mahathir Mohamad canceled several Chinese projects that’s worth 22 billion dollars after an official named Najib Razak faced a massive financial issue.
During the two-day visit of Mahathir, he warned the Philippines not to repeat the mistakes done by other countries who suffered a lot of debt from China.
“If you borrow huge sums of money from China and you cannot pay—you know when a person is a borrower he is under the control of the lender. So we have to be very careful with that”
Based on the report, the critics also warned the Philippines regarding the “debt trap diplomacy” of China. The Chinese offered “friendly” loans in exchange for control on the assets.
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