RTR: China offered to nearly halve cost of Malaysia's $20-billion rail project – sources

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REUTERS reports: “China offered to nearly halve the cost of a $20-billion rail project to save the centrepiece of its infrastructure push in Southeast Asia, two sources said on Thursday, but contradictory remarks by Malaysian ministers leave the outcome uncertain. The conflicting statements made over the past week on the status of the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) underscore the political and diplomatic challenges facing the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in renegotiating the contract.”