Kuala Lampur, April 21 -- Pakatan Harapan (PH) would have damaged Malaysia's ties with China if it had insisted on terminating the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project launched under Barisan Nasional, news veteran Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said today.

In an opinion piece published on the Sinar Harian portal, he acknowledged that PH had pledged to do so ahead of the general election and agreed this appeared to be the least convoluted solution on the surface.

"But we would gain nothing from it and instead burn RM20 billion and give a freebie to China. The question that we must ask is why did Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders negotiate and accept such terms?

"Also, if we cancelled the project, our ties with China would surely be affected on bilater...