DAVOS: There will always be border disputes in Asia, and China should not be singled out because of tensions in the South China Sea, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Wednesday.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Anwar said that Malaysia had border issues with Singapore and its other neighbors in Southeast Asia but they still managed to cultivate good relations.
While Malaysia also has maritime issues with China, it will push ahead with improving ties because it is an important country, he said.
“We have excellent relationship with Singapore. We still have border issues with them,” Anwar said.
“I treat the Thais as my family members, the leaders, but still we have some border issues with them. So it is with Indonesia, with the Philippines.
“(But) we don’t go to war, we don’t threaten. We do discuss. We get a bit... angry, but we do focus on the economic fundamentals and move on,” he added.
“Why is it that we must then single out China as an issue?” Anwar asked.
“That’s my only contention. Do I have an issue about it? Yes, but do I have a problem? No. Do we have any undesired tensions? No,” he said.
He said that while Malaysia has strong ties with the United States, China is an important neighbor that it must also engage with.
“Of course, people highlight the issue of the South China Sea... But may I remind you that Malaysia is a maritime country,” he said.
China has been “very reasonable” in dealing with Malaysia, Anwar added.
“They take us seriously, more seriously than many of the countries of our old allies and friends,” he said, without mentioning any country.
China has ruffled diplomatic feathers in Southeast Asia because of its assertion that it owns most of the strategic waterway despite an international ruling that the claim has no legal basis.
This has pitted it against Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, which have partial claims to the sea.
In recent years, China and the Philippines have seen an escalation of confrontations, including boat-ramming incidents and Chinese ships firing water cannons on Filipino vessels.
The clashes have sparked concern they could draw the United States, Manila’s long-time security ally, into armed conflict with China.

RIYADH: Lebanon’s state-owned telecom company Ogero is working to restore and expand the country’s connectivity after experiencing damages due to the Israeli conflict.

The clashes have significantly disrupted Lebanon’s telecom infrastructure, impeding connectivity and slowing the nation’s digital advancement.

Ogero’s Chairman and Director General Imad Kreidieh announced in a live broadcast that the company’s expansion plans will resume, supported by funding from multiple donors.

According to Kreidieh, Ogero connected 221,000 households to fiber-optic Internet in 2024 and plans to add 406,000 new subscribers to the network this year.

The company is also upgrading from Wi-Fi 5, currently used at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, to Wi-Fi 7. The upgrade will provide speeds of up to 3,500 megabits per second with ultra-low latency of 2— 4 millizeconds. 

The network’s backhaul capacity is being upgraded from 20 gigabits per second to 40 Gbps to support enhanced connectivity, according to Kreidieh.

Ogero is also expanding its LTE infrastructure, increasing the number of stations from 97 to 219 by the end of 2025 and 390 by 2026, which translates to better and wider coverage nationwide. 

The LTE-Advanced capacity will be quadrupled from 10 Gbps to 40 Gbps to enhance performance and service quality.

The top official also said that Ogero will build 215 new stations in the southern and Baalbek regions, which were heavily damaged by Israeli strikes, over the next 24 months, allowing users to regain connectivity.

In a move toward sustainability, Ogero is also implementing solar energy solutions for 358 sites, with a 4-megawatt production capacity and 463 kiloampere-hours storage capacity. The $9.6 million project is expected to generate $8.5 million in annual savings, according to Kreidieh.

Ogero serves as the core of the Ministry of Telecommunications, providing essential infrastructure for all telecom networks, including mobile operators, data service providers, and Internet service providers.