Kota Kinabalu: Many Chinese are eagerly awaiting to participate in Sabah’s Malaysia My Second Home programme, said China’s consul general to Sabah Huang Shifeng.
She said that although she was not aware of the feedback from participants in the programme, there was a keen interest in long term residency in Sabah and the country.
“I know that many people are waiting for finalised details,” she said.
The programme is expected to be fine-tuned and be under Sabah’s jurisdiction for implementation.
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Huang also said China saw potential in developing Sabah’s blue economy, and the governments of both sides can move towards discussion and cooperation in this direction.
“I think it has a lot of potential. There are many opportunities for cooperation and investment between China and Sabah in the blue economy sector,” she said when speaking to reporters after a briefing.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said Sabah was looking for foreign partners to go into the new blue economy.
He said Chinese investors could collaborate with Sabah in the fields of fisheries and aquaculture, shipping and transport logistics, tourism, renewable energy, mineral resources, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and blue carbon.
Hajiji had said the Blue Economy will consist of four main components, including harvesting of living resources (seafood and marine biotechnology), extraction of non-living resources, and generation of new resources (minerals, energy, and freshwater).
The other two components comprised commerce and trade in and around the oceans (transport and trade, tourism and recreation) and response to ocean health challenges (ocean monitoring and surveillance, carbon sequestration, coastal protection and waste disposal).
There were 14 industries earmarked under the four main components, among them aquaculture, fisheries, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, oil and gas, renewables, shipping, blue carbon, and habitat protection and restoration.
The State Government will hold the Sabah International Blue Economy Conference 2024 (SIBEC 2024) on Oct 19-20, to be officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The SIBEC 2024 will present investor insight, plenary sessions, interactive forums and special sessions called ambassador talks involving Ambassadors and High Commissioners of foreign countries to share experiences, knowledge and success based on the Blue Economy in their respective countries.
Meanwhile, Dr Huang said China will insist on advancing reform and opening up and sharing reform and development benefits with the world.
She said the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from July 15-18 has released a very clear signal to the world.
“No matter how the world may change, China will continue to do the right thing.
“We are committed to embracing the world with open arms, and we expect the world to open up to us alike.
“Opening up is the hallmark of Chinese modernisation.
“This Plenum introduced many concrete measures in this regard. Restrictions will be reduced.
“We will further shorten the negative list for foreign investment, remove all market access restrictions in the manufacturing sector, and fully apply the negative list for cross-border trade in services. More areas will be opened up.
“We will steadily expand institutional opening-up, and create an institutional environment that is transparent, stable, and predictable in alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules.
“We will, on our own initiative, open up wider in sectors including telecommunications, the internet, education, culture and medical services.
“We will also further level the playing field. Domestic and foreign-invested enterprises will be treated equally, and we will ensure national treatment for the latter in terms of access to production factors, license application, and government procurement,” she said.
According to her, a more open China will bring more market and growth opportunities to the world. International investors are seizing the momentum and voting with their feet.
She said in the first half of the year, 26,870 new foreign-invested companies were set up in China, up by 14.2 per cent.
“Foreign investment in actual use reached nearly 500 billion yuan ($69.8 billion), a relatively high level over the past decade.
“In addition to “made in China,” we are seeing more “smartly made in China.” We welcome more businesses to invest in China, stay committed to China, and grow with China,” she said.
Also present were her Deputy Consul-General Xue Xiaoning, Consul Liu Fang and Kota Kinabalu Journalist Association (KKJA) Chairman Jimmy Goh.
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