KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Look East Policy with the inclusion of China is a wise and necessary move given the latter’s rapid economic rise, says the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong).
“The time has come for us to fine-tune and further expand,” said its president Tan Sri Goh Tian Chuan.
The same policy with Japan as the role model was first introduced by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1982 – 41 years ago.
Goh said with China’s rapid economic growth over the past decades that saw it overtaking Japan as the world’s second largest economy, it is timely for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to include China in Malaysia’s Look East Policy.
“This is especially appropriate, as China overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy 13 years ago with the United States remaining the largest economy.
“So, for any nation to ignore China’s economic prowess will be unwise diplomatically and economically,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Malaysia and China will celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year.
With Malaysia being the first Asean nation to establish diplomatic ties with China in 1974, Goh emphasised that it is an opportunity for Anwar to moot the idea.
He noted that Anwar has conducted two official visits to China and successfully brought in a host of advanced Chinese technologies and financially strong investors to set up operations and collaborate with Malaysian businesses, since he became the Prime Minister in November last year.
“I strongly believe that with a strong and stable strategic partnership in Anwar’s era, diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China will be at its peak,” he added.
Goh said more Chinese are expected to invest in Malaysia following the positive shift in the present government’s stance towards Chinese investments, coupled with closer bilateral ties under his leadership.
Malaysia-China bilateral trade hit a record high of US$203.6bil (RM948.38bil) in 2022.
For the first nine months of 2023, trade with China was recorded at RM410.01bil, with exports at RM174.55bil, mainly comprising shipments of electronics and electrical products, palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products as well as iron and steel products.
He said Malaysia could boost its collaboration with China in the field of advanced technologies, such as aerospace, automotive, high-speed rail, artificial intelligence, drone technology, e-commerce, logistics and packaging as well as environmental technologies.
“Other sectors that are worth collaborating include higher education, human resources, culture and tourism, which will ultimately boost bilateral trade and social relations between Malaysia and China,” he added.
