Asean eyes constructive relations with China, India: Najib
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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said he was optimistic that Asean will continue to develop meaningful and constructive relations with both China and India.
He said both countries were looking at ways to increase trade and investment activities and other forms of exchanges with the 10-member regional grouping.
“For Asean, we don’t have to make a choice as we don't want to go back to the Cold War era. We must look forward to building constructive relations with them,” he said.
Najib was speaking at a dialogue session after delivering his keynote address at the 10th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue here on Friday night.
He also pointed out that the rise of Asian economic powerhouse, China, should not be viewed as a threat to the world.
“It must be a cause for optimism rather than a concern,” he added.
Earlier, in his speech, Najib pointed out that China’s economy had been enjoying spectacular growth over the years.
“But it’s not going to dominate the globe in the way the biggest economic forces of the past once did,” he said, adding that China’s growing military capacity should not cause undue alarm.
“Despite rapid increases in Chinese military expenditure, the United States will continue to be by far the pre-eminent military power, and by far the biggest spender,” he added.
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