WEB DESK
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad cautioned the Philippines on Thursday (March 7) over falling into a “debt trap”, as the country banks on China to bolster growth.
“If you borrow huge sums of money from China, and then you cannot pay, when the person is a borrower he is under the control of the lender. So, we have to be very careful about that,” Tun Mahathir told ABS-CBN News.
He said countries like the Philippines should “regulate or limit influences from China”.
Since coming into power last year, Dr Mahathir has repeatedly vowed to renegotiate or cancel what he calls “unfair” Chinese infrastructure deals authorised by his predecessor Najib Razak, whose near-decade long rule ended in electoral defeat amid a massive financial scandal.
Mahathir is in the Philippines and will meet President Rodrigo Duterte later in the day. Duterte’s pursuit of closer ties with China for the Philippines — a traditional ally of the United States has prompted a surge of Chinese worker arrivals.
At least 200,000 Chinese have flocked to Manila since Duterte’s 2016 election, many of them employed by online gaming firms that cater to Chinese players. On the other hand, Mahathir has suspended several of his nation’s major projects with China.