Service trade agreements signed between China and ASEAN members
have prompted Malaysia to conduct a series of campaigns in China to
propel service trade between the two countries this year.
Malaysia is China's eighth-largest trade partner.
"In the past, the (China-Malaysia) trade relations were focused
on the commodities sector, but now the service sector is more
promising," AbuBakar Yusof, trade commissioner of the Malaysia
External Trade Development Corporation, told China Daily
yesterday.
"Malaysia takes it (the service sector) seriously, and will
actively promote it this year including organizing delegations from
Malaysia's IT, healthcare, construction and tourism sectors to
visit China and conduct trade investment seminars in Beijing,
Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen led by our Minister of
International Trade and Industry at the end of May or early June,"
he said.
But Yusof also expressed concern over China's weak foreign
investment in Malaysia.
"It is much smaller compared with Malaysia's investment in
China, and I really hope more Chinese companies will come to do
business in Malaysia. It is a good time," he said.
From October 2001 to October 2006, China's investment in
Malaysia was US$175 million. But this figure was dwarfed by the
US$3.5 billion Malaysian companies invested in China in the period.
From January to November 2006 alone, Malaysian firms invested
US$328 million in China.
"Malaysia's social stability and rising economy provide a good
investment environment. Malaysia is also a gateway for Chinese
companies to venture into other Southeast Asian nations and other
areas worldwide like the Middle East," Yusof said.
The Malaysian campaign plan comes on the heels of service trade
agreements signed on January 14 during the ASEAN Plus China summit
held in Cebu.
The agreements, which will come into effect on July 1 this year,
are expected to propel bilateral trade, especially in the service
sector, between China and ASEAN nations including Malaysia in the
coming years.
"China-Malaysia trade will continue to move upward in 2007, with
an annual growth rate of 10 to 15 percent, but we have no idea how
the service sector will grow," Yusof said.
Analysts are also concerned the influx of companies in the
service sector, especially from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand,
will pose a threat to Chinese firms.
But Yusof said it was an opportunity for cooperation.
"The competition would be tougher as long as we liberalize the
market, but there are more positive sides, we will find more
alternatives to cooperate with each other. China's strong growth
since it entered the World Trade Organiztion is the best
proof."
From January to November 2006, bilateral trade between China and
Malaysia reached US$33.5 billion, an increase of 9 percent on 2005.
It accounted for 2.1 percent of Chinese foreign trade volume in the
same period.
Malaysia is China's eighth-largest trade partner after the
European Union, United States, Japan, Hong Kong and the Republic of
Korea, and the second-largest in ASEAN after Singapore.
Malaysia's exports to China are mainly gas, rubber, palm oil,
wood, chemical and electronic products.
Its imports are agricultural and machinery products, steel,
plastics and vehicles.
(China Daily January 18, 2007)