Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali has called for Chinese investment into the country to be welcomed.

Contrary to Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s highly critical stance on Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI), Azmin contended that such investments were beneficial to the country.

“We need to accept the reality of China’s rise as a super economy, and that China is a major trade partner with Malaysia.

“China’s One Belt, One Road (Obor) initiative seeks to open up the door to Asean and Asian countries and establish close economic ties with them, we should welcome them to come here and invest,” Azmin said in an interview with local Mandarin-language daily Nanyang Siang Pau.

Obor is China’s global infrastructure development initiative.

Among the Obor projects in Malaysia are the East Coast Railway Line (ECRL), the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP), the Malacca Gateway and Xiamen University Malaysia.

A key concern over the influx of Chinese FDI is that it will increase foreign ownership of land and compromise local players.

Azmin said that government policies were instrumental in determining whether Chinese investment stood to bring a boom to the gloom in the domestic market.

“The Selangor government believes that Malaysia and China have had a long history (of collaboration).

“At this point in time, this is the best way to improve the economy and trade of both countries.

“The main point is that we need to ensure that Chinese investments will create value and help prosper the citizens of Selangor,” he said.

Mahathir has vowed to review and even cancel “unbeneficial” projects by Chinese firms should the opposition coalition take government in the next election.

"FDI, as we understand it, is when we bring in investment and technology from other countries to set up initiatives that are run by Malaysians at every level.

"But what Najib is doing is bringing in money to buy land to build luxurious cities... and these foreign investors do not create job opportunities for Malaysians. They bring in workers from their own countries and this does not benefit our country," the former prime minister had argued.