TODAY, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will depart for Beijing to attend the second Belt and Road Initiative Forum for International Cooperation (BRI).
Representatives from over 100 countries, including 40 government leaders and thousands of representatives will gather at China’s capital.
We hope Dr Mahathir’s visit will be a huge success, bringing our bilateral ties and cooperation under BRI to a new high.
It has been six years since President Xi Jinping put forth BRI promoting development for all countries, with 124 countries and 29 international organisations having signed BRI documents with China.
The trade volume of goods between signatories has reached US$6 trillion.
China’s direct foreign investment in those countries exceeded US$80 billion creating 200,000 local jobs.
Through BRI, some countries have their first motorway or railway. There will be a China-Laos Railway in 2021 and Belarus has its own car industry.
Piraeus port in Greece soared to 36th place in the global container traffic ranking from 93rd in 2010.
The list of BRI success stories can go on and on and fully illustrate the fact that China’s BRI benefits should be shared by the world.
China put forth this Initiative with not only its own development, but development for all countries in mind.
The historical ties between Malaysia and BRI date back hundreds of years when Malaysia was an important stop on the ancient maritime silk road.
Malaysia was among the first countries to support BRI and the bilateral trade volume reached US$100 billion; China has been the biggest trading partner for Malaysia for 10 consecutive years.
Chinese FDI in the manufacturing sector in Malaysia grew four-fold from US$0.92 billion in 2013 to US$4.7 billion in 2018.
By the end of 2018, Chinese companies had invested in 422 projects in the manufacturing sector, creating 73,000 jobs in Malaysia.
The China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park and the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park, often referred to as “Two Countries Twin Parks”, are growing rapidly.
The East Coast Rail Link was rebooted and Proton is now on the verge of turning a profit, just after one year of cooperation with Geely.
BRI not only bestows a strong momentum on China-Malaysia cooperation, but also provides opportunities for ordinary families and people to realise their dreams.
Surveys show that Chinese companies in Malaysia have provided training opportunites for around 19,000 employees over the past few years.
Among them we see engineers, skilled workers, and even management staff and they all have improved enormously and found new opportunities through the training programmes.
These programmes will continue to expand, allowing more and more Malaysian people to write their own success stories.
These tangible results and achievements have earned BRI adamant support from the Malaysian government and people, encouraging more and more people to devote themselves to China–Malaysia cooperation under the framework of BRI.
I’m glad to see that the Pakatan Harapan government has openly voiced its support for BRI.
Dr Mahathir praised BRI as a valuable opportunity to connect East and West and to promote common development and prosperity in the region.
The fact that the 93-year-old senior statesman has decided to visit China twice in eight months demonstrates the political will and strong willingness from Malaysia to contribute towards BRI cooperation.
I have high hopes with regard to Dr Mahathir’s attendance at the BRI forum.
I hope the right honourable, along with other political figures, provide political wisdom and vision propelling BRI to a higher standard. I hope Dr Mahathir can exchange ideas with Xi and Premier Li Keqiang on China-Malaysia relations, drawing a blueprint for future bilateral cooperation.
There’s a classical Chinese poem that reads: the rising tides have broadened the water, and a boat should raise the sail and catch the wind.
The Malaysian government is committed to achieving economic transformation, propelling the Industry 4.0 revolution and striving for rapid economic growth.
In this regard, the high quality production capacity, abundant funds, advanced technology and experiences from China could just be the wind that Malaysia needs during its sailing.
Hence, we welcome Malaysia’s participation in BRI cooperation in a deeper, more comprehensive manner, to fully utilise the unique geographical and resource advantage of Malaysia, and to achieve better and faster development through this cooperation.
I also believe that BRI will blow a favourable wind to make the 45-year China-Malaysia relations sail to a better future featuring stability, mutual trust and prosperity.
The writer is China’s ambassador to Malaysia