Malaysia has suspended a fourth China-linked project in addition to the three infrastructure initiatives it halted on Wednesday, in the latest effort to cut government spending and to ramp up investigations into 1MDB, the scandal-hit state investment fund.
Lim Guan Eng, finance minister, on Thursday confirmed that Malaysia had suspended a RM3.3bn ($813m) gas and petroleum pipeline linking Malacca to a Petronas refinery and petrochemical integrated development project in Pengerang.
The move follows the suspension of three of its largest projects backed by Beijing — the East Cost Rail Link as well as two oil and gas pipelines — taking the total value of halted projects to $23bn.