Malaysia wants to attract more China's companies to list on the Malaysian stock exchange, or set up operations in the country, a Malaysian government official said on Tuesday.

This was especially so after the Chinese authority had included Malaysia into its Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program earlier this year, Malaysian Deputy Finance Minister Lim Siang Chai told reporters here.

The QDII is a program through which Chinese investors can invest in foreign capital markets

Lim said Malaysia could be a destination for China's companies to set up their second headquarters here to serve the ASEAN region, which had a population of 600 million.

He also said that Malaysia had the multi-lingual skills, and it was also cheaper to set up an office in Malaysia.

According to Lim, prominent Chinese companies in the information technology sector have been approached in the Malaysian government's bid to woo them here.

Lim said he would visit China this November, hoping to attract fund managers from China to set up their operations here.