TTF: Dr Mahathir Mohamad told Donald Trump yesterday that “one has to learn to live with China.”
Question is, was Mahathir talking to a mirror or was he speaking to a portrait of himself?
The last I checked, the only world leader whose administration openly accused China of engaging in money laundering activity and shoddy business deals is none other than Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Has Mahathir forgotten how he went to China and criticised the Chinese on their home ground?
Has he forgotten how he and Daim Zainuddin tried to con the Chinese into renegotiating the ECRL project just to get his cronies and Daim’s banks involved?
Does this have anything to do with news I received from an ally in Washington regarding Trump’s refusal to meet Mahathir?
KUALA LUMPUR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has criticised Donald Trump over the latter’s inconsistent views, telling the US president that “one has to learn to live with China” amid an ongoing trade war between the two countries.
Bloomberg reported the prime minister as saying that Trump’s diplomatic style is jeopardising US efforts in Asia, sarcastically adding that China could probably even outlast US in the trade war.
“He changes his views in a manner of hours,” Bloomberg quoted Dr Mahathir as saying during an event at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, referring to Trump.
“Dealing with people who are not consistent is a big problem,” Dr Mahathir added.
He pointed out that China has history on its side as it has been around for “4,000 years”, and said that Trump’s mixed signals to Asia was not doing the US any favours.
“One has to learn to live with China,” Dr Mahathir said.
The prime minister is expected to discuss the US-China trade war during the United Nation meeting this week, including the tariffs imposed on another US$200 billion (RM827 billion) of Chinese goods.
On Tuesday, it was reported that the Trump administration imposed tariffs on another US$200 billion in Chinese goods, ramping up a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.
The latest round of US duties took effect just after midnight Washington time on Monday on a list of products ranging from frozen meat to television components.
China is poised to retaliate with tariffs on US$60 billion in US goods, a move that President Donald Trump has said would spur new duties on another US$267 billion in Chinese imports.
Source: The Malay Mail Online
