Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is committed to increasing its economic ties with China. He said that China and its local businesses requests for business collaboration with the PH government.
Azmin said that their government wants to express their commitment to work in strengthening its collaboration with China. He added that they believe that they can learn a lot from their Chinese partners and they want to move forward. His statement was given after he delivered his closing speech at the "China Conference" spearheaded by the South China Morning Post.
The PH government reviewed big-ticket projects like the involvement of China in the East Coast Rail Link after the new government took over. Some of the projects were closed and others are being reconsidered. The review created concerns that Putraya under its new government is leaning away from China.
The minister's statement assured that Putraya is preparing to collaborate with China. he said that Miti, international trade, and industry ministry, is looking into the collaboration and, in the last Cabinet meeting, they have discussed at length to ensure that they give immediate approval for all the applications to facilitate China's business community that plans to invest in Malaysia and also to encourage Malaysian companies to invest their products globally. He added that they believe that all countries are important to Putraya and the Look East Policy does not imply that Malaysia is looking away from the United States.
The minister said that they welcome all investments but east is the direction which was embarked upon by Prime Minister Mahathir some years back. He added that they are open to collaboration but they certainly need to review if there are new challenges. He believes that if they are going to expand the scale of the Look East Policy new companies will be encouraged to invest and it makes it necessary to learn from China.
Today, it was reported that China's Pacific Construction Group Ltd (CPCG) planned to invest a RM 10 Billion in its infrastructure development projects and its hi-tech machinery improvements. It was reported that in the Star that Yan Jiehe, CPCG founder, expressed his belief that Malaysia is a business-friendly country and it is one of the most competitive countries in the region.
Jiehe said that Malaysia's business fundamentals are strong because they have an excellent infrastructure, a robust ecosystem and a big supply of trilingual talents.
