KUALA LUMPUR: The whole world, including Malaysia, has been benefitting from China’s 40-year reform and opening-up policy, said Peter Wong Tung-shun, HSBC’s deputy chairman and chief executive, as well as the chairman of HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad.
Wong said in a statement that China’s GDP has achieved an average 10 percent annual growth rate over the last 40 years, which is three times the rate of the US during the same period, boosting China’s trade relationships with other economies in the region.The partnership between the Malaysian state of Melaka and South China’s Guangdong Province, aiming to promote the development of various projects, will also help establish Melaka as a strategic port and hub along the B&R routes, according to Wong.
Wong also sees Malaysia as benefiting from the Alibaba Group-led Digital Free Trade Zone that is due to take effect in 2019, where the Chinese internet titan will connect businesses, manage the authorization of cargos and assist in customs procedures.
As a key driver of global trade and investment, Wong believes China is positioning itself at the center of Asia’s economic growth by increasing regional connectivity through the B&R Initiative, helping to turn Asia into a dominant global economic force.
