Mahathir warns West not to impose trade rules

Mahathir warns West not to impose trade rules

TOKYO (AP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has warned Western nations leading the World Trade Organization not to impose their principles of free trade on Asian nations.

Speaking to students at Tokyo's Waseda University Thursday, Mahathir said such pressures from the West are already causing bitterness among China and Southeast Asian countries, and could lead to confrontations.

"The carping criticisms of human rights records and environmental pollution or destruction and the linking of these with trade will be much resented," the prime minister said in a speech.

Developing countries in the region have resisted attempts by the West to link labor standards or human rights to trade, accusing Europe and the United States of simply trying to keep cheaper eastern goods out of their markets.

Some countries also fear that the West is using the principle of free trade to penetrate their markets before the weaker economies have a chance to develop their own industries.

The prime minister predicted that East Asia will continue to grow rapidly over the coming years, with emerging economies of the region quickly gaining on Japan.

"There can be no stopping the emergence of East Asia as an economic powerhouse of the same stature as the European Union or NAFTA in the 21st century," he said.

Meantime, China will become a major economic power in the region, but the rest of Asia shouldn't be antagonistic against the country, Mahathir said.

"The combined size and wealth of the other Northeast Asian countries together with the Southeast Asian countries can easily balance that of China," he said.