MALAYSIAN DON'T HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN USA AND CHINA?

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -  Malaysia's foreign policy is based on principle - that is supporting what is right, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Sunday. 

Najib said based on this principle, Malaysia therefore did not really need to choose between the United States and China.

"It is not as easy as choosing a football club. Manchester United for example ... but jokes aside. We cannot decide and make a choice because look at the strength of both countries," he said. 

Najib said this when he was asked who should Malaysia choose between US and China by one of the delegates at the Malaysian Student Leaders Summit 2014, organised by the United Kingdom and Eire Council of Malaysian Students (UKEC), here, Sunday. 

Elaborating further, the Prime Minister said the United States had strength such as a big market, technology, innovation, some of the best education institutions in the world, and also a super power. 

Najib said China was also an integral part of Asia and they were the nation's largest trading partner with US$100bil in two-way trade, which Malaysia was pushing to US$160bil in five years’ time.

"So, why do we need to confront the United States, at the same time we have China?" he said, adding that Malaysia had a very independent foreign policy.

• He said if Malaysia were beholding to the United States, for example, it would never deal with (Alexander) Borodai (separatist forces leader) for the bodies of the MH17 victims to be taken out from the crash site in eastern Ukraine.
• "If we are beholding to the US, I would not have visited Gaza, for example. I met the leader of Hamas. That is what I mean by principle-based foreign policy and at the same time a pragmatic one," he said.
• Najib said such a foreign policy would yield more benefits and a positive result.

Source:  Bernama