Malaysia’s early embrace of China’s Belt and Road Initiative has led to a flood of Chinese investments in the country, boosting the Southeast Asian nation’s economy.
“I think people are becoming very excited about ‘One Belt, One Road.’ People see the potential of ‘One Belt, One Road’ and it’s not just in infrastructure. There will be a lot of opportunities for human capital development,” said Michael Yeoh, Secretary General of ASEAN-China Business Council.
Malaysia, a middle-income country, was one of the first countries in the region to throw its support behind the China-led Belt and Road Initiative.
As a result of closer economic ties, China has emerged as the largest foreign investor in Malaysia.
In 2014, foreign direct investment (FDI) to Malaysia mainly originated from Singapore, Japan, the Netherlands, the US and Norway. These countries poured in 257.7 billion Malaysian ringgit (around 58 billion US dollars), or 55.1 percent of total FDI.
But last year, China emerged as the largest foreign investor in Malaysia, with investments reaching 4.77 billion Malaysian ringgit (74.61 billion Chinese yuan, 10.84 billion US dollars).
China also ranks as the top foreign backer of Malaysian real estate projects, with total investments topping 2.1 billion US dollars.
Recent projects include upgrading and building new ports, creating industrial parks and iconic urban developments, power generation, train construction, building new rail lines, investments in manufacturing plants, logistics, and information and communication technology.
“This idea of upgrading ports and building new ports is actually a dream come true. The government policy for the last 10 to 15 years has been to make Malaysia a hub because of the location. I think now with the Chinese idea of trying to help and upgrade the infrastructure it will become a reality,” said Abdul Majid Ahmad Khan, former Malaysian Ambassador to China.
Malaysia’s prime minister recently announced that he intends to accept Chinese President Xi Jinping’s invitation to attend the Belt and Road Summit being held in May in Beijing, underlining the closer cooperation between the two nations.
