Global Times published an interview with the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, today under the title “U.S. Profits from Confrontations It Provokes in Ukraine, South China Sea: Mahathir.” Dr. Mahathir emphasized that the ASEAN countries do not want any confrontation with China, their largest trading partner, while also not wanting a conflict with the U.S. He pointed out, however, that the U.S. likes to provoke military conflicts between other countries to serve their own geopolitical interests, as with Ukraine and Russia, as well as to sell arms for their military-industrial sector.
On the conflict in the South China Sea (Malaysia also has claims that conflict with those of China), the former prime minister said, “the way to solve conflicts is not to send battleships, but rather to sit down around the table and discuss.... When the region is peaceful, trade will grow and we will all prosper.”
As is his wont, he also addressed the broader global issues: “Countries sometimes become very powerful, but later on, they lose their position. For example, at one time, Britain was the most powerful country in the world, with colonies around the world, but it’s no longer the world power that it once was. The U.S. has taken its place, but it cannot still expect to remain the No. 1 world power forever. It has to share power with other countries, for example, with China. As long as it doesn’t wage war against other countries, we have to accept that China is a very big, powerful country, both economically and militarily. And we have to accept that we need to maintain good relations with China.”
On Gaza, he said: “The Gaza conflict started 70 years ago when they took Palestinian land and gave it to the Jews to be made into Israel. You can’t go and take other people’s land and give it to other countries. That was wrong. Since then, Palestinians have wanted to get their country back. They were not strong. They were not able to fight against Israel because Israel is supported by America and European countries.... Unfortunately, America and European countries support Israel, providing Israel with arms, bombs and rockets to kill more Palestinians. They talk about human rights, but they don’t practice it. When anybody does not agree with them, they are prepared to attack that country. For example, when Iraq and Saddam Hussein did not agree with the U.S., they attacked Iraq and actually killed Saddam Hussein.”
Asked what to do, he said: “My suggestion is that we should have a roundtable discussion every year because that is the ASEAN way of solving problems. We don’t fight each other. We sit around the table every year to discuss our differences and find solutions through discussion and negotiation. We should extend that to the three countries in Northeast Asia, namely Japan, South Korea and China, to have a special meeting every year to solve problems that may be affecting us. I think if you go to war, everybody will be destroyed. If you use nuclear weapons, it is not only the enemy who will suffer; you will suffer too because of radiation and everything else that comes with it. Then everybody will suffer.”
