- cross-posted to:
- world@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- world@lemmy.world
China’s President Xi Jinping has arrived in Malaysia as part of a Southeast Asian tour which is seen as delivering a personal message that Beijing is a more reliable trading partner than the United States amid a bruising trade war with Washington.
Xi’s three-country tour and his “message” that Beijing is Southeast Asia’s better friend than the truculent administration of US President Donald Trump comes as many countries in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc are unhappy with their treatment after the US imposed huge tariffs on countries around the world.
“This is a very significant visit. You can read many things into it,” said Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, a former Malaysian ambassador to the US and minister of legal affairs.
“Under PM Anwar, Malaysia is getting very much closer [to China]. It’s a good thing,” he added, noting that “in the long run”, Washington’s “influence will be reduced”.
Washington hit Malaysia with a 24 percent trade tariff, accusing it of imposing a 47 percent tariff on US imports, a rate that Malaysian officials rejected.
Xi’s visit to Malaysia is in part an effort to “reinforce” the view that China can “offer to bypass America”, said James Chin, professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia, via a different international order such as BRICS – the 10-country intergovernmental organisation comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China, among others.
“Basically, this is all architectured to build a new international order… Trump has given China the excuse to push harder amongst countries around the world, especially developing countries,” Chin said.
Of the three countries Xi chose to visit this week, analysts said Malaysia is deemed to be the most important for China, given its sizeable 32 million population, its developing high-tech base and its current chairmanship of ASEAN. China is also Malaysia’s largest trading partner since 2009, and in 2024, China-Malaysia trade reached $212bn.
“China hopes to jack up trade with Malaysia, which will make up for the expected downgrading of exports to the US,” said Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a senior China analyst with the US-based Jamestown Foundation and author of the book, From Confucius to Xi Jinping.
“Politically, Malaysia has a lot of influence among all 10 ASEAN states,” Lam said. “Including how countries that have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea should respond to Beijing’s aggressive tactics in bolstering its hold over.”
The Atlantic, 2021: The Chinese ‘Debt Trap’ Is a Myth
One skyscraper collapsed by a major earthquake—while still under construction and therefore not yet seismically sound—doesn’t prove anything about anything.
Oh I didn’t see this community was on .ml.
They celebrated the completion of the structure:
https://www.khaosodenglish.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CREC-1.jpg
It should have been seismically sound because the structure was completed. It was mostly due to substandard rebar:
Fortune, 2025: Thai authorities accuse developers of using substandard steel for a Bangkok skyscraper…
And ofcourse because I don’t live in willful ignorance like most .ml tankies:
Asia Times, 2025: China’s Belt and Road crediblity collapsing fast in Thailand
There are also videos of Chinese workers retrieving the documents out of ruble and running off with them. I could share these videos but it would just cost me time to find them again while the previous information should have already proven my point.
The collapse is a tragedy, and it needs to be thoroughly vetted and investigated. Looks like the investigation is ongoing, and the story is actively developing. However, this doesn’t translate to any of the following points:
That China is Imperialist
That construction with Chinese involvement (this project was a joint-effort) is worse on average than other available options
That China isn’t still the best option among those available to Thailand, Malaysia, and countries in the Global South seeking development in general
Ultimately, your original claims of China being a “bad trading partner” and is doing “economic imperialism” are backed soley by an incredibly recent tragedy that is still undergoing investigation. Even if 100% of the claims posited in your articles are correct, ie that substandard materials were deliberately used and that workers actually ran off with documents for the purpose of hampering investigation efforts, those are all problems that can be dealt with via thorough audits and policy correction.
Engineering and construction failures, by quantity, are fairly common, and when you’re one of the largest construction firms on the planet, it is all but certain that failure isn’t a matter of if, but when. In this manner, it is important to know why certain failures end up emphasized in media and which ones end up going under the radar. Western, english-speaking media has an invested reason to discredit China right now during the tariff war as public opinion on China is shifting to a positive direction, especially since the US passed 1.6 billion dollars in funding anti-PRC media.
That does not excuse any possible malpractice. This is a tragedy, and those responsible, Chinese or not, should be held accountable and punished. Corrective action needs to be taken. However, the investigation is ongoing and the geopolitical context makes it an especially convenient story to signal boost despite still being a developing story.
What matters most is the frequency of failure, and if proper investigations and corrective measures are taken. If the investigation concludes that CREC is responsible, yet no corrective justice occurs and no policy changes implemented, that is when we can begin to speak of China being an untrustworthy trade partner. Using a tragedy as ammo while the facts are still being uncovered leans more towards Sinophobia than genuine concern for the well-being of Malaysian and Thai peoples.
Also, as a side-note, complaining about Communists when commenting on a community with quite a few Communists is pretty childish, and ends up hurting your credibility more than helping you prove a point.
Inb4 “But tank eez aren’t real communists, they’re muh redfash muhthoritarians.”
Of course, lol. Somehow nothing ever seems to count as Communism as nothing can ever measure up to what they want, anything short of perfection is impure and thus an imposter or deciever.