Guest Editorial: PM Anwar Ibrahim's Guidance to Australia on Sinophobia and Gaza

Murray Hunter

Guest Editorial: PM Anwar Ibrahim's Guidance to Australia on Sinophobia and Gaza

by Lim Teck Ghee
7 MAR 2024

Making the news in the mainstream western media around the world but not in Australia which is hosting the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit 2024 was the forthright response from Malaysia PM Anwar Ibrahim during his press conference to a question from Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) journalist Stephen Dziedzic

The transcript of this conversation is reproduced here as it has not been followed up with any report from the ABC despite its undoubted importance for Australian and Asian policy makers and public.


JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Anwar, last week in the Financial Times you criticised what was apparently termed as ‘sinophobia’ in the United States and perhaps the broader west in its dealings with the region. Can you expand on that, sir? What did you mean by that? How does that manifest? And can I also ask, do you view Australia's attempts to build-up its own military capacity, including through AUKUS, in the face of Beijing's own massive military build-up - do you view that as a reasonable response? Or does Malaysia harbour concerns?

PRIME MINISTER ANWAR: You know these difficult questions to be addressed to the host. But anyway, my reference to China-phobia is because the criticism levied against us for giving additional focus to China - my response is, trade investments is open and right now China seems to be the leading investor and trade into Malaysia. Cumulatively still, United States of America, it's an open trading policy to encourage investments overseas from foreign countries. But we are independent nation, we are fiercely independent. We do not want to be dictated by any force. So, once we remain to be an important friend to the United States or Europe and here in Australia, they should not preclude us from being friendly to one of our important neighbours, precisely China. That was the context. And if they have problems with China, they should not impose it upon us. We do not have a problem with China. So, that's why I referred to the issue of China-phobia in the West.


(https://www.pm.gov.au/media/press-conference-melbourne-4)

“We are [an] independent nation, we are fiercely independent”

“We do not want to be dictated by any force”

“Don't preclude us from being friendly to one of our important neighbours”

“If they have problems with China, they should not impose it upon us

“Why must I be tied to one interest? I don’t buy into this strong prejudice against China, this China-phobia” - Anwar Ibrahim interview with Financial Times, February 25, 2024.





Lim Teck Ghee, ANU PhD graduate, is a Malaysian economic historian and policy analyst. He has a regular column, Another Take, in The Sun, a Malaysian daily and Oriental Daily; and is the author of Challenging the Status Quo in Malaysia, and Dark Forces Changing Malaysia (with Murray Hunter).