Malaysia's Minister of Investment, Trade, and Industry Tengku Zafrul Aziz has praised China's technology-driven development achievements, emphasizing the positive impact on neighboring countries, including Malaysia.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Kuala Lumpur, Aziz highlighted the surge in investments by Chinese tech companies in Malaysia and the broader Southeast Asia region. He noted that China's advancements, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, have had a significant influence on Malaysia's digital transformation.
"We have seen big technology companies from China investing into Malaysia and into the region. Of course, globally, recently with the announcements of DeepSeek, [it] shows how China has advanced and quietly advanced. And for Malaysia, we have seen many companies in the digital economy, of course in AI, in data centers, in cloud computing. These technologies must be accessible and Chinese technologies are accessible because it's affordable and also it is something that is more sustainable, so we can be more inclusive," said the minister.
DeepSeek, a Chinese AI firm, has grabbed global attention for its cost-effective approach to training AI models. The release of its R1 model earlier this year has been particularly groundbreaking, making huge waves in the global tech community.
Aziz emphasized how innovations like these are helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia access cutting-edge technologies like AI, which might otherwise be out of reach for many due to high costs.
Beyond economic cooperation, Aziz also touched on China's evolving role in the global political landscape. With the United States increasingly taking an isolationist stance toward multilateralism, China has emerged as a leading advocate for global governance and the rules-based international order.
"China has been playing that role, recently more so, when we've seen the U.S. having strong views against some of the decisions made by the WTO and various other multilateral platforms that we've been on. China now has showed that they are still supporting the principle of multilateralism. And China, I think, has really stepped forward to ensure that this global rules-based order still continues," said the minister.
Malaysian minister hails China's tech advancements, growing global leadership
