‘Chinese investors won’t threaten nation’s security’

ISKANDAR PUTERI:

Investments from China will not threaten the country’s security in any way, assures Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

The Johor Mentri Besar said the people have nothing to fear, pointing out that China was the second largest economic powerhouse in the world.

“They are taking radical steps to emerge as the biggest economic power, so it would be foolish of Malaysia or Johor to ignore them.

“We will open our doors to investors from any country who benefit us, regardless of who they are,” he said during the state assembly sitting yesterday.

Mohamed Khaled said Opposi- tion-led states such as Selangor and Penang have also welcomed investors from China.

He said their investments were not solely into the property sector but also other fields such as manufacturing.

“In general, Chinese investors bring huge benefits to Malaysia and Johor and we are taking all necessary measures to ensure that no one foreign country dominates a particular sector,” he said.

He was replying to a question by Datuk Samsolbari Jamali (BNSemarang) and Dr Boo Cheng Hau (DAP-Skudai), who asked if the presence of Chinese investors could potentially threaten the security of the country.

On another matter, Mohamed Khaled said the state government was in the final stages of discussion with a Chinese company to set up a Robotics Future City, involving an estimated investment of RM15bil.

The city will include among others, a research and development institution, an exhibition centre, big data centre, services centre and a robotics engineering academy.

Mohamed Khaled said an agreement was being finalised through a joint venture company between Johor Corporation and the investor Siasun Robot Investment Co. Ltd.

“The investor has expressed certainty that they will be setting up a robotics city after surveying other countries in the region.

“We have already identified an ideal area to develop the project,” he said in his reply to Mohd Azhar Ibrahim (BN-Tenang).

Mohamed Khaled said a memorandum of understanding was signed between JCorp and Malaysian Investment Development Authority with Siasun in April.

On another note, he said Johor recorded some RM985.20mil in foreign direct investment for the first half of the year.

Topping the list was Singapore with RM341.72mil, followed by the Netherlands (RM302.40mil), France (RM124.69mil), Taiwan(RM57.99mil) and the United Kingdom (RM51.813mil).