Malaysia launches regional offensive on Asian crisis
Malaysia launches regional offensive on Asian crisis
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia is launching a regional diplomatic offensive with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his deputy expected to visit five countries over the next two weeks to discuss the Asian economic crisis, officials and news reports said yesterday.
Mahathir and Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim are expected to visit Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand as part of the initiative.
Mahathir, who made a brief visit to Jakarta last month for talks with Indonesian President Soeharto, is expected to fly to Bangkok and Manila some time after tomorrow, a spokesman said.
Government sources in Manila said Mahathir was expected to meet President Fidel Ramos on Friday and that the two leaders would discuss a proposed trading system using local currencies rather than the dollar.
Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said earlier that a plan involving the Malaysian ringgit, the Philippine peso and Thai baht could be implemented as early as this month.
Indonesia has opted out of the proposed system as the rupiah is now the most unstable currency in the region.
Malaysian newspapers reported Monday that Mahathir was also planning to visit Japan, as well as Singapore for separate talks with Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, although the reports could not be confirmed.
Mahathir and Goh met briefly in the southern Malaysian city of Johor Bahru last month and Goh himself is expected to make an official two-day visit to Kuala Lumpur from Feb. 16, his first official visit since 1994.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, is meanwhile scheduled to leave Saturday for a working visit to Japan followed by a private visit to Taiwan.
He is scheduled to meet his new Japanese countertpart Hikaru Matsunaga and attend a business conference before flying to Taipei for talks with Taiwan's Prime Minister Vincent Siew and Finance Minister Paul Chiu as well as local business leaders, a spokesman said.
Anwar reportedly said during a visit to his home town in northern Malaysia Sunday that the trip to Taiwan would be a "private" visit out of deference to China which considers the island a renegade province.
Other newspapers quoted Anwar as saying that the government was "not going to seek help for Malaysia" during the visits to Japan and Taiwan, and that Malaysia was more interested in developing regional efforts.