Ties with Malaysia based firmly on free trade principles

Malaysia hopes to attract more investment from Chinese companies and will remain committed to free trade, said a leading official from the Southeast Asian country on Wednesday.

"Malaysia wants to continue to be open to all countries and continue to be a strategic location to attract investment in Southeast Asia," Ong Kian Ming, Malaysia's deputy minister of international trade and industry, said on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of 15th China-ASEAN Expo.

"We have a China-ASEAN free trade agreement. Now, we are also negotiating the regional comprehensive economic partnership. There are many more opportunities for us to assure that we are committed to an environment of free and open trade, despite some of the global challenges we are facing.