“China’s vast market has provided tremendous opportunities in trade, investment and business. Its deepening economic reforms and further opening up, coupled with its BRI programmes and globalisation policy, have opened up many investment opportunities and spurred the emergence of new trading zones, particularly along the BRI routes.
In July 2016, The Economist of UK reported that China said it would invest a total of US$4 trillion along Belt and Road countries. The Middle Kingdom has been Malaysia’s top trading partner for the past 10 years. Total bilateral trade breached US$100bil again last year, according to Chinese data that captured Malaysia exports via Hong Kong and Singapore.Malaysian statistics show that China has been the country with the largest amount of FDI in its manufacturing sector for three consecutive years, having created some 73,500 jobs for Malaysians.