On February 22, Chinese Consul General in Kota Kinabalu Huang Shifang published an article entitled "China’s Development Creates Opportunities for the World" in mainstream Chinese and English newspaper in Malaysia, including Asia Times, See Hua Daily News, Sin Chew Daily, Overseas Chinese Daily News and Daily Express. The full text is as follows:

At the start of 2025, we have witnessed many pleasant surprises for China's Development. First, Chinese AI company DeepSeek launched an open source model free for commercial use with outstanding performance and lower training cost, attracting extensive attention and heated discussion in the world. Then, the independently developed animated film “Nezha 2: The Devil Boy Conquers the Dragon King” produced through China's “whole-process industrial collaboration model,” achieved an astounding global box office of over 12 billion yuan, topping the global animated film box office ranking.

These highlights not only reflect a solid start of China’s development in the Year of the Snake, but also speak to the defining feature of the Chinese economy characterized by continued structural improvement, greater internal driving force and stronger resilience for development. They showcase the success of a full range of policies China has adopted to respond to the impacts of the changes at home and abroad, and to make solid gains in pursuing high quality development. They are an epitome of China’s achievements in implementing the Innovation-driven Development Strategy and pursuing high quality development.

In 2024, amid intensifying geopolitical conflicts, rising global protectionism and a sluggish world economic recovery, China rose to the challenge with a full range of policy actions. In July, the successful Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China set out a systematic plan for further deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernization. Over 300 key reform measures are to be implemented within five years, which will give full play to China’s economic strengths and inject strong momentum into its development. In December, the Central Economic Work Conference released a series of favorable policies, stabilizing social expectations and boosting market confidence. China has the advantages of a supersized market, a well-developed industrial system and a vast and high-caliber entrepreneur pool and workforce. In the future, Chinese economy will continue to achieve an upward trajectory. China’s commitment to promoting global development and prosperity through Chinese modernization will remain unchanged. China’s resolve to share development opportunities with the world is as strong as ever.  

China has made impressive achievements in pursuing high-quality development and high-standard opening up. In 2024, China’s economy has been generally stable and continued to gain momentum, outperforming many of the world’s major economies. China’s GDP reached 134.9 trillion yuan, a 5% increase from the previous year, still a stabilizer and propeller for the global economy. China's high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing accounted for 16.3% and 34.6% respectively of the total value-added industrial output in 2024, representing increases of 0.6% and 1% compared to 2023. The surveyed urban unemployment rate on average in China stood at 5.1% in 2024, down 0.1% from 2023. Median per capita disposable income nationwide achieved a nominal increase of 5.1% year on year. During the recent Spring Festival holiday, the average daily sales revenue of China’s consumption-related industries increased by 10.8% year-on-year, in which goods consumption and service consumption grew by 9.9% and 12.3% year-on-year respectively and the overall orders for cross-border travel saw a 30% growth year-on-year. Recently, many global financial institutions indicated in their 2025 economic outlooks that China’s high quality development is gradually yielding fruits, and they expect higher proportions for consumption and the service sector.

China is not only advancing its own development but is also committed to sharing the benefits of win-win cooperation with the rest of the world, including Malaysia. We believe that the world does well when China does well; and when the world does well, China will do even better. Over the years, China has consistently contributed around 30% to global economic growth. China has held annually the China International Import Expo and the China International Supply Chain Expo for years running. China has granted all least developed countries having diplomatic relations with China zero-tariff treatment for 100% tariff lines, and abolished all market access restrictions on foreign investment in the manufacturing sector. China’s openness index is up 11.89% since 2008. China is also a major trade partner of over 150 countries and regions and has long been the world’s second largest recipient of foreign capital. To further facilitate cross-border travel, China has implemented or optimized the unilateral visa-free policy for 38 countries, including Malaysia. Around the world, China remains a key engine of economic growth, injecting vital momentum and adding stability to the recovery of world economy.

China and Malaysia are not only good neighbors across the sea, but also good friends with a shared vision, and good partners for common development. Under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both nations, the China-Malaysia community with a shared future has taken tangible shape, bringing substantial benefits to both countries and their peoples. China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years. China has also maintained its position as Malaysia’s main source of foreign investment for several years, with cumulative investments exceeding US$19 billion. Additionally, both nations are deepening collaboration in cutting-edge fields such as digital economy, green development, artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and other areas, accelerating the development of new quality productive forces. People-to-people exchanges between the two countries are flourishing, with polls indicating that 77% of Malaysian respondents hold a positive view of China. Sabah plays an important role in building a community with a shared future between China and Malaysia. China and Sabah have achieved significant progress in the exchanges and cooperation across various sectors. In 2024, more than 480,000 Chinese tourists visited Sabah, the highest percentage among all foreign visitors. We have now come to a new historic milestone. The Consulate General is ready to collaborate with friends from the broader community in Sabah and Labuan, follow the guidance of the consensus reached by the leaders of our two countries, and actively promote mutually beneficial cooperation in a innovative and enterprising way. Together, we will write a new chapter of China and Sabah-Labuan friendship, to help building a more concrete China-Malaysia community with a shared future and to benefit people of both nations through our common development.