Create a flagship project of China-Malaysia cooperation

　　Overlooking the Mazhong Guan Dan Industrial Park on the east coast of Malaysia.

　　Photo courtesy of Mazhong Guan Dan Industrial Park

　　The car was passing through the mountains. Suddenly, a giant marble sign with the words "Guan Dan Industrial Park in Mazhong" engraved in Chinese and English appeared on the side of the road, followed by rows of office buildings, dormitories, factories and warehouses … … Walking into the scene, thousands of Chinese and Malaysian staff are busy. Bulldozers here are still under intense construction, and red hot metal has been poured out of the boilers in the steel works there.

　　The Mazhong Guan Dan Industrial Park on the east coast of Malaysia, together with the Zhongma Qinzhou Industrial Park, became the first sister district in the world to build industrial parks in each other’s countries, creating a "two-country, two-park" model. In 2014, the Supreme Leader of president, China proposed to turn Qinzhou and Guan Dan Industrial Parks into flagship projects of China-Malaysia cooperation and China — Asean cooperation demonstration zone. Nowadays, the construction of Guan Dan Industrial Park is speeding up, and the first project, United Steel Plant, is about to be put into full operation, which indicates that the industrial park has begun to enter the "output stage".

　　The equipment technology, energy saving and environmental protection technology of United Iron and Steel Project have reached the world leading level.

　　"Although this place is so lively now, when I first came here five or six years ago, the industrial park had not officially leveled the soil, and there were swamps everywhere." Eileen Gong, general manager of the International Liaison Department of Beibu Gulf Holdings (Malaysia) Co., Ltd., witnessed the process of the industrial park from scratch, from conception to reality. Standing at the gate of the endless stream of parks, looking at the vehicles and crowds that keep coming in and out, Eileen Gong said with emotion: "Such a large industrial park has actually been built by us, just like dreaming."

　　Hu Jiulin, deputy project commander of United Steel (Malaysia) Group Company, has the same feeling. "When I first came here in 2014, there were only a few of us, everyone ‘ Dwelling in humble abode ’ In a small room, there is no network in the room. When you need a network for your office, you can only go to a nearby western restaurant to surf the Internet. "

　　The joint iron and steel project is planned to produce 3.5 million tons per year, and the equipment technology and energy-saving and environmental protection technology adopted have reached the world’s leading level. After it is fully put into production, it will become the largest steel plant in Malaysia.

　　Because the local steel production capacity in Malaysia is not strong, the local government initially worried that this China steel enterprise with advanced technology and production capacity would "snatch" the local rice bowl. United Steel dispelled their concerns with practical actions: local employees account for 70% of the total number of employees, more than 500 million US dollars of the total investment is spent locally, more than 40 Malaysian steel traders are cooperated and led to settle in the park, and the salary of employees is higher than the local average wage level & HELIP; …

　　After the trust was established, the United Steel Project received strong support from the local government, and all administrative examination and approval procedures passed smoothly with high efficiency.

　　Four sisters learn Chinese by heart.

　　In Malaysia, many Chinese maintain Chinese traditional culture, but not many Malays can speak Chinese fluently. Atila, secretary of General Manager of United Steel, is one of them. "I learned Chinese since I was a child, but because my mother tongue is Malay, I learned it very hard. When I was 13 years old, I remember that there were 8 classes, and the pressure was particularly great. I once wanted to give up Chinese, but I still gritted my teeth. " Atila said with a smile.

　　Atila’s father is an accounting professor at Mara University of Technology. He has long realized that China has great potential for future development and thinks that mastering Chinese is a necessary skill for children. "I have one sister and two sisters, and all four of us have been learning Chinese since childhood."

　　In 2014, Atila went to beijing language and culture university to study Chinese. After three years’ experience in China, Atila really felt the friendship between the people of Malaysia and China and the great pleasure of learning Chinese. "I am very shocked by the development speed of China. China represents the hope and future of the world. It is definitely right to learn Chinese." Atila said that she learned about the Belt and Road Initiative in Chinese class. "I believe that more and more China enterprises will come to Malaysia, so I made up my mind from then on to work in a China enterprise in Malaysia, and I want to learn from Chinese’s working style and attitude."

　　Atila’s four sisters have learned Chinese, which is of great help to their respective career development. "The bitterness I ate at the beginning is still very worthwhile in retrospect." After working in Guan Dan Industrial Park for more than a year, Atila’s greatest feeling is that "China and Malaysia are closer", because the "Belt and Road" construction has brought the two peoples closer in mind.

　　Malaysia is willing to learn from the successful experience of China’s development in the new period.

　　According to the plan, Guan Dan Industrial Park in Mazhong covers a total area of nearly 12 square kilometers, consisting of a production and processing area, a scientific and technological research and development area, a trade and logistics area, a leisure and tourism area and a living service area, which will be carried out in two phases. The infrastructure construction progress of the first phase project is over half, and the second phase project will start in the second half of this year. At present, there are 11 contracted projects, covering automobile tires, aluminum profile processing, petrochemical, cogeneration and other fields, which will directly create nearly 20 thousand employment opportunities for the local area.

　　Ten kilometers to the southeast of the industrial park is Guan Dan Port facing the South China Sea of China, and ships from here can reach Qinzhou Port in Guangxi, China in only three days. With the deepening of trade with China, the throughput of Guan Dan Port increased steadily in 2017, reaching 17.46 million tons. After the joint steel project is fully put into production, it is estimated that it will contribute 12.3 million tons of throughput to Guan Dan Port every year. Ports, industries and parks constitute a benign development pattern of win-win and interaction.

　　On the other side of the "two countries and two parks", China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park is shifting from infrastructure construction to comprehensive industrial layout. Malaysian enterprises have invested and built a series of development areas in Qinzhou Industrial Park in China, such as China-Malaysia International Science Park, Malaysia Innovation City and China-Union New Energy Industrial Park.

　　In an interview with this reporter during the day, China’s ambassador to Malaysia believed that the industrial structures of China and Malaysia are highly complementary, so Chinese-funded enterprises coming to Malaysia to invest and start businesses should find their own positions in the industrial chain, cooperate to realize complementary advantages, and constantly improve the degree of localized operation, stimulate local employment and promote local economic development.

　　Small and medium-sized enterprises have great development potential in bilateral economic and trade cooperation. In February this year, the Embassy of China in Malaysia held the "2018 China-Malaysia SME Cooperation Matchmaking Meeting", focusing on catering, wholesale logistics, modern agriculture, green energy, circular economy and other industries, attracting about 300 Chinese and Malaysian enterprises to participate. The matchmaking meeting took the form of "one-on-one" negotiation, and each China enterprise negotiated with two or three Malaysian enterprises, and conducted more than 200 negotiations. The matchmaking meeting finally reached 117 cooperation intentions, signed 9 cooperation memoranda on the spot, and reached 78 inspection intentions. During the day, he said that by strengthening the docking of small and medium-sized enterprises and complementing each other’s advantages, China-Malaysia economic and trade exchanges will be further promoted and the benefits of enterprises of the two countries will be expanded.

　　Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said during his recent visit to China that Malaysia admired China’s miraculous independent development and praised China’s great achievements in industry and commerce. In the new era, Malaysia is willing to learn from the successful experience of China’s development, constantly innovate and create, and realize its greater development. China welcomes Malaysian enterprises to invest in Malaysia, deepen bilateral cooperation and better benefit the two peoples. He emphasized that the "One Belt, One Road" initiative proposed by the Chairman of the Supreme Leader is to promote regional exchanges and cooperation and will benefit all countries in the region. Malaysia supports and is willing to actively participate in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", which is believed to be conducive to regional development and prosperity.

　　Guan Dan Industrial Park in Mazhong is a pilot demonstration project of "One Belt, One Road" jointly built by China and Malaysia. I believe that with the joint efforts of China and Malaysia, more projects will bear fruit and bring tangible benefits to the people of the two countries.

　　(Kuala Lumpur)