MELBOURNE: China is a massive market with dramatic investment potential and Malaysia wants its business community to begin tapping into the East Asian giant with investment, its deputy prime minister said on Monday. Muhyiddin Yassin called for investors to “take advantage” of Malaysia's growing Chinese Diaspora and large halal sector in an effort to make inroads into the Chinese market, which despite moves toward more investment in recent years has largely remained outside the Malaysian business community's gaze. “Malaysia's strength lies in its diversity. As a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, the Malaysian business community is able to capitalise on a wider range of opportunities in China,” said Muhyiddin at the 4th World Chinese Economic Forum on Monday. He said Malaysia was blessed in the form of its substantial Chinese community, where some 24 percent, or 7 million, Malaysians are ethnic Chinese. “Malaysia is the only country outside China with a complete Mandarin education system available to its population from pre-school right up to university. There are also many other non-Chinese background Malaysians who study in Mandarin schools,” he said. Business leaders in the country agreed. On the sidelines of the Forum, Isabel Chang, a female manager at an international corporation with offices in both Beijing and Kuala Lumpur, told Bikyamasr.com that the minister is right in asserting Malaysia's potential in the Chinese market. “I think there is a lot that can be done inside China and while we all look at how China has grown in its efforts to invest elsewhere, in Southeast Asia and Africa, a lot has not been done to reciprocate that move,” she said. “We need to overhaul our thinking and see China as a fluid market with massive potential, so Malaysia is on the right track with these assertions,” Chang added. As such, Yassin said besides the ability to converse and understand, there are many extensive business connections in trade and investment as a result of the substantial Chinese community. This, he said, “translated to good links with the Chinese world of some 50 million overseas Chinese and over 1.3 billion Chinese nationals.” The deputy PM said the Malaysian business community could leverage on that and explore the untapped Chinese hinterland markets, especially in tourism and halal industries. Last year, Malaysia's export value for Halal products reached RM35.4bil or 5.1 percent of its total global exports. “I believe that the country's huge halal industry is able to cater to the 20 million Muslims in China,” he said. He said strategic alliances with provinces such as Xinjiang, Gansu and Ningxia will also allow Malaysia to not only penetrate these big halal markets but also those in Muslim-majority countries neighboring China. “We should all also look beyond China's tier one cities. Today, most of China's cosmopolises, including that of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are maturing fast," he said. “These cities will surely present greater business opportunities with good purchasing power,” he said. On the local front, he said Malaysia also played host to Chinese business leaders from China, Thailand, Indonesia, USA, SingaporePhilippines, Australia and many other parts of the world. “They came to Malaysia do business not only with the Malaysian Chinese, but with all Malaysians that understand Chinese business ethics and values,” he said. He said many of these businesses use Malaysia as a platform to launch their products and services into other English speaking markets, India and the Middle East because of Malaysia's multilingual population and cultural connections with many parts of the world.
