Sabah an important node along Maritime Silk Road
KOTA KINABALU: While the huge influx of Chinese tourists has driven the booming tourism industry in Sabah, the growing visitor arrivals has also increased the workload of consular protection of the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Kota Kinabalu.
Last year, Consul General Liang Caide said, the consulate had received more than 1,000 hotline calls for consular protection.
“The consulate has handled close to 150 cases of consular protection and assistance requests involving nearly 800 Chinese citizens throughout the year.
“Of the number, close to 10 cases involved drowning, road accidents and other incidents have caused death of seven Chinese citizens while injuries to 13 others.”
With the increasingly challenging consular protection duty, Liang said the consulate relied on its consular protection liaison personnel dispersed all over the State, as well as the support from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Immigration Department and the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) and assistance from the Chinese community.
“On behalf of the consulate, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all the parties who have rendered their assistance,” he said at a reception marking the assumption of office for Deputy Consul General, Wu Xiaoqing here on Thursday.
“It is heartening to see that the consulate has expanded from merely four individuals during its establishment at the end of 2014 to more than 20 consular officers and their accompanying family members today.”
Liang said the assignment of an experienced Deputy Consul General in Kota Kinabalu reflected the importance on the cooperation between China and Sabah to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China.
He said Sabah was an important node along the Maritime Silk Road of the 21st century.
He said the exchanges and cooperation between Sabah and China in various sectors had gained momentum in recent years, whereby an increasing number of Chinese investments had entered the State.
“Last month, the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Shafie Apdal has personally led an impressive trade delegation to China, which led to the signing of 12 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the intent to establish cooperation worth RM20 billion.
“The prospect for future cooperation between China and Sabah is bright.”
At the same time, Liang said the people exchanges between both places had grown closer.
He said there were more than 120 direct flights connecting Sabah and China, while the number of Chinese students in Sabah had risen to over 700.
On the other hand, he said Sabah had attracted 600,000 Chinese tourists last year, whereas the number of Sabahans visiting China had also increased significantly over the years.
“Last year, the consulate issued over 31,000 Chinese visas, which marked a growth of 22 per cent.”
Speaking on the new Deputy Consul General, Liang said Wu was a senior diplomat who had served in Samoa, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, England, Russia and other countries over the span of 30 years.
“In fact, Wu is very familiar with Malaysia, having served at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Malaysia from 2001 to 2003.”
He said Wu would be responsible for consular protection, documentation and overseas Chinese works at the consulate here.
Liang hoped that the local community would give Wu their support and assistance to facilitate his work.
Meanwhile, Wu said he would do his level best in executing his duties and work hand in hand with the State Government and Chinese community in enhancing exchanges and cooperation between China and Sabah to realize the vision of the Belt and Road initiative.
Also present were Deputy Consul General Zhang He.