General

China and Malaysia have close economic and trade exchanges and complementary industrial advantages. According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, as of 2021, China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years, and Malaysia is also China's second largest trading partner in ASEAN. China and Malaysia have close economic and trade exchanges and complementary industrial advantages. Ju By 2021, China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years, and Malaysia is also China's second largest trading partner in ASEAN.

According to the observation of Huacheng's import and export data, from January to November of 2022, the bilateral trade volume between China and Malaysia reached 184.75 billion US dollars, up 18.3% year on year, of which China's exports to Malaysia increased 23.7% year on year; China's imports from Malaysia increased by 14% year-on-year. This year, China is expected to remain Malaysia's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years.

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, China accounted for the largest proportion of foreign direct investment in Malaysia in the first half of 2022, amounting to RM48.6 billion, accounting for 55.61%.

Xu Ningning, Executive Chairman of the China-ASEAN Business Council and Chairman of the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee, said that the above data fully demonstrated the close economic and trade relationship between China and Malaysia and the strong vitality of development.

Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation reported that in 2021, the bilateral trade volume between China and Malaysia reached US $176.8 billion, up 34.5% year on year, faster than the average growth rate of trade between China and the 10 ASEAN countries in the same year. China's exports to Malaysia reached US $78.77 billion, up 39.9%; China imported US $98.06 billion from Malaysia, up 30.4%, ranking the first among China's imports from the 10 ASEAN countries; China has a deficit in the trade between China and Malaysia, amounting to 19.32 billion US dollars. Malaysia is the largest source of China's deficit in the trade between China and the ten ASEAN countries.

By the end of 2021, China's total direct investment in Malaysia has exceeded 10 billion US dollars, and Malaysia's total direct investment in China has reached nearly 8 billion US dollars. According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, in 2021, Malaysia ranked the third among China's investment in the 10 ASEAN countries, the 10 ASEAN countries' investment in China, and China's newly signed project contract amount in the 10 ASEAN countries.

Malaysia is expected to achieve 7% economic growth in 2022. The main driving forces of economic growth are private consumption and investment growth, large exports and favorable base effect.

In the first ten days of September 2022, the MYR continued to weaken, hitting the lowest level since the Southeast Asian financial crisis in 1998. In order to control inflation, the National Bank of Malaysia (BNM) was forced to raise the benchmark interest rate for the third consecutive time on September 8.

In November, the PMI of Malaysia's manufacturing industry fell to 47.9 from 48.7 in October, shrinking for the third consecutive month, and the PMI index reached the lowest level in 15 months.

On March 18 this year, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) entered into force in Malaysia. Xu Ningning said in an interview that RCEP is beneficial to optimize the supply chain industry chain between China and Malaysia and provides more space for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. Xu Ningning suggested that Chinese enterprises develop trade and investment cooperation with Malaysia:

First, grasp the timetable for both sides to open the goods trade market and service trade market in the RCEP agreement, and make good use of the developer machine of the free trade agreement;

Second, actively cooperate with Malaysian enterprises to build a new supply chain industrial chain under the RCEP framework, and jointly strengthen cooperation with third parties to develop the market;

Third, strengthen cooperation with Malaysian enterprises while cooperating with Malaysian Chinese businessmen;

Fourth, we should focus on developing cooperation in the fields of digital economy, green economy, bio-pharmaceuticals, etc., especially cross-border e-commerce cooperation.

Xu Ningning said that the friendship between countries lies in the affinity between the people, and the affinity between the people lies in the affinity between the hearts. One of the basic goals and objectives of developing friendly relations between China and Malaysia is to benefit the people. The benefits of bilateral cooperation and development to the people are the greatest guarantee for consolidating and developing the cooperation results. In order to root the good-neighborly and friendly relations between the two sides in the general public and improve the good-neighborly sentiment index, it is necessary to implement the people-to-people and cultural cooperation between the two sides and pay attention to the quality of cooperation, rather than the form than the content.

The development of Chinese enterprises in Malaysia needs to consider the comfort of local people, and it is better to keep a low profile. A well-known Chinese enterprise has contracted to build a high-rise project next to the Twin Towers, a landmark building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. When the project is about to be completed, the tall building is prominently marked with a large Chinese character "built by a certain company" (which is very normal in China), which is easy to arouse local people's disgust. First, people do not understand Chinese and have a little disrespect for others; Second, let the local people have a sense of crisis.

People's hearts are connected, and things should be moistened quietly. We should strengthen exchanges between parliaments, political parties and non-governmental organizations of the two countries, strengthen cooperation in education, culture, health, sports and other fields, and strengthen exchanges between women, youth, media, think tanks and other fields. The development of China-Malaysia relations needs to fully mobilize social forces to promote bilateral cooperation and should constitute an active situation in which social forces actively participate in cooperation.

Xu Ningning said that the China-ASEAN Business Council and the RCEP Industrial Cooperation Committee are helping Chinese and Malaysian enterprises to seize the opportunities of RCEP together.