Malaysia CG in Guangzhou: Baiyun Mountain offers me the nature and sense of community

This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia. Guangdong Province has always been a critical part of the exchanges between the two sides.

In this debut episode of ASEAN Q&A, a newly launched program by GDToday to invite officials, scholars, and business leaders from ASEAN countries for exclusive interviews, Madame Suraya Pauzi, Consul General of Malaysia in Guangzhou, shared her personal feelings on Guangdong and the GBA.  

Madame Suraya is impressed by Canton Fair and dragon boat races in Guangdong

Madame Suraya Pauzi's badges of Canton Fairs. (Photo: Madame Suraya Pauzi)  

Coming to this foreign land in September 2022 as the Consul General of Malaysia in Guangzhou, Madame Suraya confessed that there were two events that were quite big and critical for her.

The first is the Canton Fair. Madame Suraya was stunned by the scale of the event, which covers three sessions at one time. She also noted that it's an amazing platform for both international and Chinese buyers and sellers.

Since her first in-person presence at the Canton Fair kicking off in April 2023, she has sought to attend every fair as often a group of Malaysian sellers comes all the way from Malaysia to exhibit their products.

"Now I have the badges for fairs 133, 134, and 135. The latest badge was for 136. I'm very happy with that collection," she chuckled.

The second thing that left an impact on her was the dragon boat race.

Growing up on Penang Island, Madame Suraya was used to watching the international dragon boat race there from a young age. The little girl was astonished by the huge physical energy of the contestants as well as the cultural event, especially the well-decorated boats.

When arriving in Guangdong, she noted that the dragon boat races here are held not only on the major rivers but also in small waterways and rivers in small towns and communities.

"Each community or village will have a team racing. It's become a matter of community pride. You can be just a member of the community who wants to be part of this," she added.

Guangdong contributes most to trade and investment between Malaysia and China

Madame Suraya (C) visits a nuclear power plant in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. (Photo: Madame Suraya Pauzi)

When asked about Guangdong's role between China and Malaysia, Madame Suraya underscored its uniqueness due to the highest concentration of trade and investment between the two countries.

"China has been Malaysia's leading trade partner for 15 years. From this huge economic volume that we have in Malaysia and China, 22% is just with Guangdong. That's close to 1/4 of our total trade with China," she noted.

Simultaneously, Madame Suraya lauded the GBA initiative, which entails the integration of two special administrative regions and nine cities in Guangdong Province.

She told GDToday that among nine of them, she visited eight. During her visits, Madame Suraya learned about their main industries, which helped her attempt to see how Malaysia can also cooperate with the eight cities.

Based on her observation, there's already a good basis for cooperation. "We actually have a lot of manufacturing. Malaysian manufacturers are already operating. Every time I go to a new city, I learn that they're already there," she highlighted.

According to her, given the robust trade and investment relations between the two sides currently, the economic link is projected to be stronger in the future.  

Semiconductor industry will be a new growth point for GBA and Malaysia

Madame Suraya (2nd from the left) speaks at Huawei ICT Competition in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.  (Photo: Madame Suraya Pauzi)   

"The strength of the GBA is mostly in science, tech and innovation," Madame Suraya hit the bullseye, and she further detailed the semiconductor industry as the potential domain that the GBA and her country can work with.

She told GDToday that her country's national strategy, the New Industrial Master Plan 2030, released last year targets taking the Malaysian economy to a higher level within seven years.

Given Malaysia's manufacturing status, according to her, the country is moving towards a higher service-based and innovation-based economy. "With this Master Plan, what we're trying to do is to work with other countries, like a collaboration and partnership," she added.

In her view, the GBA is the right place to do this. The high potential domain for collaboration is in semiconductors, as Malaysia ranks as the 6th largest exporter of semiconductors.

The Malaysian government launched a three-phase national semiconductor strategy in May this year to "pump in about $5 billion in targeted incentives and infrastructure to help build up this industry."

In terms of free trade and market access, according to Madame Suraya, Malaysia has plugged into the international market system given the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement and the membership in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

"So this can be a huge advantage for industry players who want to expand into Malaysia or create a network from China, specifically GBA into Malaysia," she concluded.

Baiyun Mountain offers Madame Suraya a sense of community and nature  

Madame Suraya (1st from the left) with her daughters at Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. (Photo: Madame Suraya Pauzi)   

Madame Suraya recommends Baiyun Mountain in Guangzhou as her personal preference for a visiting site for Malaysian tourists, as she loves to be in nature, and she likes hiking.

"When someone visits Baiyun Mountain, they would be really exposed to the spirit of Guangzhou. Its people, its parks, its beauty," she said.

At the top of the mountain, people get to see the whole view of Guangzhou. It's very community-based. People play ping pong or do choirs, living their lives there," she added.

At last, when asked to use three words to describe her time in Guangdong, Madame Suraya felt that it had gone in the blink of an eye. She selected three words — something always happening.