KUALA LUMPUR, April 17 – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day state visit highlighted the significance of Malaysia, both in terms of its role within ASEAN and its bilateral relationship with China, said Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
He said Xi’s visit to Malaysia is crucial for both countries to enhance the investment and trade achieved thus far between China and Malaysia.
“The memoranda of understanding (MoUs) signed today demonstrate both parties’ commitment to further enhance investment and trade between the two countries.
“The MoUs are in areas relating to new technology and artificial intelligence (AI). We want to see how we can work on this in trade and investment to ease some of the concerns and allow more Malaysian companies to export to China,” he told the media at his office on Wednesday.
Malaysia and China witnessed the exchange of 31 MoUs and documents covering various sectors of cooperation between the two countries.
The three MoUs with the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) are on cooperation in trade and services; for upgrading the China-Malaysia “Two Countries, Twin Parks” project; and on cooperation standardisation.
In addition, Tengku Zafrul said, the MoUs are also for China to invest more in Malaysia in the right sectors to build up the technology sectors, especially in AI and semiconductors.
He said that Malaysia and China last year marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations established on May 31, 1974, emphasising the desire of both countries to further strengthen bilateral ties.
“From the perspective of investment and trade, China has been Malaysia’s main trading partner for more than 16 consecutive years and is one of Malaysia’s largest investors, especially in the past 10 years,” he said.
Xi arrived in Malaysia yesterday, marking his second official trip to Malaysia in 12 years after his previous visit in 2013.
For 16 years since 2009, China has remained Malaysia’s largest trading partner, with total trade between the two countries valued at RM484.12 billion in 2024, representing 16.8 per cent of Malaysia’s total global trade of RM2.88 trillion.
