Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is hoping that China will sympathise with the predicament faced by Malaysia.

In a joint press conference with Chinese premier Li Keqiang in Beijing today, Mahathir said there is much to gain from strengthening the relations between both countries.

"We hope to get China to understand the problems faced by Malaysia today.

"I believe that China will look sympathetically towards the problems we have to resolve, and perhaps help us in resolving some of our internal fiscal problems," he added.

Although Mahathir did not specifically mention megaprojects such as the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) and the gas pipelines in Sabah, he has been adamant in wanting to renegotiate the projects in order to manage the nation's debts.

Last night, Mahathir told a dinner with the Malaysian diaspora that the government could save RM100 billion if both the ECRL and Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail (HSR) projects were cancelled.

"We feel that the two countries have much to gain. We don't believe in a confrontation with any countries. Malaysia has a policy of being friendly to every country in the world irrespective of their ideologies.

"This is because we need to have markets for our products, and I'm glad to hear the response from the Chinese government that China will import (items) from Malaysia especially palm oil and also, it must be price sensitive," he said.

Read more: China has a lot to teach us, says Mahathir

Li affirmed that China is prepared to increase its imports from Malaysia such as palm oil and agricultural products.

Both countries have inked five memoranda of understanding, which are:

  1. Extension agreement on bilateral currency swap arrangement (Bank Negara Malaysia and People's Bank of China)
  2. Protocol on inspection and quarantine requirements for the export of frozen durian (Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry Malaysia and General Administration of Customs China)
  3. Development and Promotion of Malaysian Palm Oil Biofuel (Malaysian Palm Oil Board and Tsinghua University)
  4. Collaborations in Rubberised Bitumen Road Technology and Rubber Tapping Automation and Mechanisation (Malaysian Rubber Board, Hainan State Farm Bureau, and Hainan State Farms Investment Holdings Co. Ltd.)
  5. Accounting and Audit Regulatory Cooperation (Securities Commission Malaysia and Finance Ministry China)