Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Saturday said it would be premature for the Philippines to follow the decision of Malaysia to cancel infrastructure projects being funded by China.
Gatchalian made the statement following the decision of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad of Malaysia to cancel a railway and two energy pipeline projects backed by China worth over $20 billion to reportedly reduce Malaysia’s debts.
READ: Malaysian PM says China-financed projects canceled
“It would be premature for the Philippine government to cancel its infrastructure projects with China simply because the Malaysian government has cancelled their own deals with China,” Gatchalian said in a statement.
He said doing so would be too early since “we do not know the details of the subject Malaysian-Chinese infrastructure deals” at this point.
According to Gatchalian, the government should “decide on its own” if it will push for the high-value infrastructure projects, and that its decision should be objective.
“The decisions of regional allies concerning their own projects should not be a factor,” he said.
The senator also assured that the country has its measures against debt traps and that Congress and other concerned agencies follow “responsible and sustainable” fiscal policies. /muf