You can't stop China from growing, says ex-Malaysian premier

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad believes the United States is "provoking" China towards a catastrophic conflict.

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PETALING JAYA — Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad believes the United States is "provoking" China towards a catastrophic conflict.

In an interview with Time magazine, Tun Dr Mahathir was scathing in his criticism of American efforts to contain the rising superpower that is China.

"They are a very hard-working people, very skilful, you can't stop them from growing.

"China will do everything to retain the market and is doing exactly what the Europeans were doing before," he said.

Dr Mahathir went as far as to call US "freedom of navigation" sorties in the South China Sea "destabilising" and called for them to withdraw.

"Suppose China sends warships to the Caribbean and conducts (exercises) there, what would America do?

"This is not America, this is the South China Sea, this is Asia. The US is a world power, but you have to use that power judiciously, not to provoke conflicts between nations," he said.

When asked about China's surprise live-fire drills off New Zealand in February, Dr Mahathir was unmoved, telling Time with a winsome grin: "New Zealand is still the Far East."