Jack Ma, the Chinese ecommerce billionaire, flew into Malaysia last week to court new prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, having cultivated previous leader Najib Razak before he was swept from power last month.
Mr Ma was not just promoting his Alibaba group but trying to smooth relations between China and Malaysia, after Mr Mahathir promised to review the “unequal treaties” signed by Mr Najib with a slew of Chinese state-owned companies as part of President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road initiative.
Just as he had with Mr Najib, Mr Ma laid it on thick with Mr Mahathir, telling him that he had been inspired to launch Alibaba by the elder statesman’s “genius” when he was prime minister of Malaysia in the 1990s.
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