Malaysia’s king is planning to seek funding from Chinese investors for a multibillion dollar high-speed rail project between the Southeast Asian country and Singapore, according to people familiar with the matter.
Haha. I would not be surprised if this is truly the case.
However I do not believe that it’s as simple as just straight up asking for money.
In his native state of Johor, there was a mega project called Forest City built by China developers that was effectively halted by then Prime Minister Mahathir in 2018. This PM has famously been known to have bad blood with the Johor royal family. My guess is this visit is also to discuss revitalizing this project, allowing China to recoup some of that lost investment.
Traveling with him are both the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Housing, lending some merit to this rumour.
Haha. I would not be surprised if this is truly the case. However I do not believe that it’s as simple as just straight up asking for money.
In his native state of Johor, there was a mega project called Forest City built by China developers that was effectively halted by then Prime Minister Mahathir in 2018. This PM has famously been known to have bad blood with the Johor royal family. My guess is this visit is also to discuss revitalizing this project, allowing China to recoup some of that lost investment.
Traveling with him are both the Minister of Transport and the Minister of Housing, lending some merit to this rumour.