In recent years, with the development of diplomatic construction, the mainland's overseas cooperation projects have been increasing, and Malaysia is one of the first countries to respond, as early as 2016, the Malaysian government handed over the East Coast Railway project to the mainland.
However, only two years after the signing of the contract, Malaysia unilaterally demanded the cessation of cooperation, and the mainland suffered great losses, and according to the agreement, the Malaysian side must pay 36.1 billion yuan in liquidated damages.
Unexpectedly, Malaysia refused to pay compensation and actively contacted Japan, hoping that Japan would take over the construction project, but not long after, they honestly begged the mainland to continue to cooperate.
So, why did Malaysia take the initiative to break the treaty, and how did the mainland respond to Malaysia's repudiation and request for help?
China-Malaysia cooperation railway project
In 2013, the Malaysian government announced that it had established diplomatic relations with China, and we had provided economic assistance to them, especially in the tourism industry, and their income almost doubled.
But the good times were short-lived, and on July 3, 2015, NGOs urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to freeze Najib's personal account and conduct a thorough investigation, according to the Wall Street Journal.
On July 4, 2015, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia came forward to respond to the incident, which became known as the "1Malaysia Incident".
The 1MDB incident can be said to be the largest financial scandal in Malaysia's history, involving too much money, many participants, and the process of the development of the incident is even more twists and turns, and it is still discussed by the international community to this day.
It all started back in 2009 when former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak set up 1MDB Berhad which was originally a sovereign wealth fund to boost Malaysia's economy.
We know that despite Malaysia's well-developed tourism industry, their railway construction is not advanced, and it is not even ranked in the world, especially in some remote areas, and it is almost difficult to achieve full coverage of rail transportation.
So they have been working on the railway plan for a long time, limited by technical strength, Malaysia can only look for help from other countries, at first, Malaysia did not seek cooperation from China, but hugged the thigh of the United States.
However, everything did not go as planned, and as the donations grew larger, some unusual transaction bills surfaced, and investigators were surprised to find that a large amount of money had been transferred to the personal accounts of Najib Razak and his cronies.
The source of these funds is the 1MDB Development Fund, and what is even more bizarre is that a large amount of money is spent on luxury goods, luxury houses, and luxury yachts, which is obviously a big conspiracy.
Fortunately, the forces of justice have triumphed over corruption, and international investigations coupled with media exposure have made Malaysia almost the focus of global attention.
Eventually, Naji Razak was arrested and charged with multiple corruption charges, including money laundering and embezzlement.
After a court trial, Najib was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined billions of dollars.
Malaysia's international reputation fell rapidly as soon as the incident came out, and the United States was reluctant to provide too much technical support, which led to weak domestic economic growth, and it was only then that they turned their attention to China.
In 2016, Malaysia signed a bilateral agreement worth RM144 billion with us, and one of the most notable projects is the East Coast Railway.
You must know that Malaysia is a relatively special country, its economic structure is very different from the mainstream countries in the world, and the level of development is not the same in various places, and the east coast region is one of the more backward regions in Malaysia, and the level of economic development is very low.
It is often said that if you want to get rich and build roads first, the construction of the East Coast Railway here can improve the basic transportation conditions of the local area, thereby driving the business district to settle in and reducing the development gap between the Madong and Masi areas.
In fact, the natural environment of the east coast is quite good, the beach is very clean, it is an excellent location for tourism development, and when the railway is opened in the future, it is likely to become a new important tourist area in Malaysia.
In 2017, the Malaysian government felt that the construction plan on the east coast was not detailed enough and should be extended, and after some discussions between the two sides, the expansion plan was finally agreed.
Halfway through the project, Japan and South Korea are also eyeing Malaysia's construction projects, especially Japan, which has advanced railway technology and wants a piece of the pie.
As a result, Japan began to woo the Malaysian government to attract them with lower prices and more sophisticated technology, but at first we didn't care, thinking that Malaysia had been a strategic partner for many years and would not easily default.
China is responsible for the construction of a long railway line of about 665 kilometers, with 20 stations along the line, which can cover five states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor, whether it is to carry people or goods, without any pressure.
With a total investment of RM50.2 billion and expected to be completed in 2027, the rail line will provide at least 80,000 jobs in Malaysia and save the country's GDP.
During the construction period, China not only appointed relevant technical personnel, but also lent them a large amount of money, and the Malaysian government only took a small part of the money, all to speed up the construction progress of the project.
China's kindness has not been exchanged for Malaysia's gratitude, but on the contrary, it has maintained close ties with Western countries, and in 2018, 93-year-old Mahathir Mohamad took office, which he called off the East Coast Rail Link project, citing Chinese interference in Malaysia's development.
At this time, more than half of the project has been built, and the cooperation is terminated at this time, Malaysia has no loss, but China has lost a lot, and according to the agreement, they should pay 36.1 billion yuan in compensation.
In the face of huge reparations, Malaysia has continued to delay, and during this period, it has also reached a cooperation with Japan to help them restart the railway project.
But in the eyes of the international community, Malaysia has lost its credibility and no one dares to negotiate business with them.
In 2019, the construction of the Malaysia-East Railway started again, because they really couldn't afford to pay huge compensation, and the East Coast really needed such infrastructure, so they had to get back together and reach a cooperation again.
As a country of etiquette, we naturally choose to accept that China's construction units are still working on the east coast of Malaysia, and this railway will be a testimony to the friendship between the two countries.
Text: Uncle Luo Ying
Edited by Uncle Luo Ying
Resources:
International Online, "The East Malaysia Railway Project Undertaken by Chinese Enterprises Creates More Than 18,000 Jobs and Cooperates with More than 1,900 Local Enterprises - Contributing to the Connectivity of Malaysia's East and West Coasts (Co-construction, First Site)
Global Network "Encouraging "Decoupling" and "De-risking" to the Harm of Others and Ourselves |