Malaysia will not abandon Huawei: PM Mahathir

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on Thursday backed Chinese tech-giant Huawei amid a U.S. ban on the company.

“[Malaysia] will continue to make use of their technology as much as possible,” Malaysian news agency Bernama reported quoting Mahathir at a conference in Tokyo.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month signed an executive order banning American companies from working with Huawei.

Huawei has filed motions against the order and said such a ban would harm American interests.

Mahathir argued that Malaysia was “too small to have an impact on the company like Huawei”.

“[Huawei’s] research is far bigger than the whole of Malaysia’s research capabilities,” he said.

Urging U.S. to make concessions in its disputes with China, including the spat surrounding allegation of Huawei’s spying activities, Mahathir told The Future of Asia Conference: “So, we try to make use of their technology as much as possible. Yes, there may be some spying, but what is there to spy in Malaysia?”

Mahathir also proposed the use of gold in South East Asia region as an "alternate currency" regime.

"By pegging the new currency to gold, it could be used to evaluate the import and export activities among East Asian countries," he said, Channel News Asia reported.

Mahathir is on a three-day visit to Japan where he arrived Wednesday night and is scheduled to return Friday.