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China envoy saga not over, Ka Siong at odds with Zahid
Published:  Oct 3, 2015 4:55 PM
Updated: 9:54 AM

A week has passed since the controversial visit to Petaling Street by China’s Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang, but there appears to be no end to Putrajaya's confused response.

This is after Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Wee Ka Siong said the cabinet meeting on Thursday did not decide to call Huang up again to explain his actions.

Wee's statement, reported in Sin Chew Daily today, contradicts with Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who said in a statement on Thursday that the cabinet had unanimously decided to call Huang again to give a formal explanation.

The Sin Chew Daily report further quoted Wee as saying he was not clear about Zahid's statement and that he would seek further clarification at the cabinet meeting next week.

The Oct 1 cabinet meeting, which arrived at the purported decision, was chaired by Zahid as Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is overseas.

The latest contradiction is a continuation of the confusing responses to the issue after Huang visited Petaling Street on the eve of a planned racially-charged protest led by Umno leaders.

The ambassador raised eyebrows when he said that China was against extremism and racism against any particular race at a sensitive time.

Wisma Putra had initially summoned the ambassador but this was aborted with the intervention of Tourism Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz ( photo ), who later arranged an informal meeting between Huang and Acting Foreign Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, who is also Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister.

This prompted an angry response from Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, who was also overseas, and he went on to accuse Nazri of interference.

Nazri later apologised , explaining that he had erroneously thought that Deputy Foreign Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican and Wisma Putra had acted without Anifah's authorisation.

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