Mahathir Mohamad. Malaysia’s anti-China rebel? Not so fast …

The Chinese bogeyman helped Mahathir get elected, but now he is playing a new game – mending fences after cancelling projects worth US$22 billion. And with a visit to Beijing under his belt, he seems to be winning

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The Chinese and Malaysian flags at Tiananmen Square. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:00am, 22 Aug 2018Updated: 12:51pm, 22 Aug 2018

Mahathir Mohamad, the anti-China rebel of Southeast Asia?

Not quite, if the reaction of foreign-policy observers to the Malaysian leader’s five-day visit to China is anything to go by.

The 93-year-old leader’s trip had attracted intense scrutiny for any residual signs of the anti-Beijing hawkishness he had shown in the run-up to his shock election victory in May.

Close watchers of Malaysia-China ties said the visit had been a success and that both sides had shown an eagerness to “meet halfway” and put behind them the uncertainties that had built since Mahathir defeated his Beijing-friendly predecessor Najib Razak.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing. Photo: EPA

Immediately after the May 9 election, Mahathir had sparked anxiety in Beijing policymaking circles with his snap decision to suspend some US$22 billion of Chinese-backed infrastructure projects endorsed by his predecessor that he felt were unnecessary and too expensive.

And his public position on China before the election had been even more alarming for China’s leaders – at one point during his campaign he blasted his one-time protégé Najib for ceding sovereignty to Beijing.