Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad praised the initiative to bring various countries together in the 2nd Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, stating that is the proper way compared to superpowers dictating to smaller countries.

"What I like about the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is that all countries are working together to define what the BRI is about.

"What we used to see was that some ideas come out from some very powefulr countries - they come from one source and the rest of the world must follow.

"But here we are together, we are defining things among us. Even the smallest country with a small population of less than one million can speak in a forum where a country if 1.4 billion people also participates," he said in an interview with China-based CCTV+ during his recent visit to Beijing.

Mahathir, who returned from Beijing yesterday, said this was a "truly democratic" approach.

"It is the proper way to make decisions to form things and to solve problems between nations," he said.

Mahathir also stressed that Malaysia's decision to renegotiate the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and Bandar Malaysia was not due to its relations to China.

"The problem we had with the ECRL and Bandar Malaysia is not about Malaysia and China. It is about money; it is too expensive for us.

"We have to reduce the cost. Even if the project is with any other country, we would have to adopt the same strategy to reduce borrowings from other countries," he said.

Mahathir said Malaysia has been receiving a lot of investment from businesses in China and will continue to welcome them.