BY NURHAFIZAH TAN
Bernama journalist Nurhafizah Tan was a participant in the ‘China Asia Pacific Press Centre’ Programme in 2023. In this article she shares her experiences in conjunction with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China this year.
KUALA LUMPUR: If asked to name one food to ‘unite’ Malaysia and China, durian is definitely the choice as the ‘agent of diplomacy’.
When she had the opportunity to participate in the China Asia Pacific Press Centre (CAPPC) Programme for more than four months in the country of the Great Wall last year, the writer saw for herself how the Chinese community was impressed by the durian fruit, especially the Musang King variant which has become Malaysia’s identity.
A variety of durian-based desserts such as cake and ice cream, and even durian-based pizza can also be found in bakeries around Beijing, showing that it is in high demand among the Chinese community.
The writer found that in using an online food ordering application and when using the keywords ‘durian’ or ‘lulian’ are typed into the search engine, more than 10 stores offering the fruit-based food will appear.
Musang King
While in the Panda’s country of origin, the writer had the chance to attend the Rasa Malaysia Festival, organised by the Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China (MayCham) in September last year and saw how the visitors were excited about the Musang King Durian.
According to MayCham Chairman Loh Wee Keng who organised the three-day programme, Musang King’s popularity is one of the factors that helped attract more than 50,000 local visitors.
The festival also serves as a platform to introduce Malaysian food and culture to local people in addition to enhancing import-export trade to help generate the national economy.
Malaysia has been exporting frozen durian products to China since 2011. Malaysia achieved 108.9 per cent self-sufficiency in durian production last year, with an output of 455,458 metric tonnes.
The annual export volume continues to rise, with Malaysia primarily exporting durian to China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, accounting for 10 per cent of the overall production.
National Heritage and advanced Technology
The writer also had the opportunity to meet the Giant Panda, which is famous as a national heritage of China and is often used as the country’s ‘diplomatic ambassador’, when visiting the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu.
When at the centre, the writer saw for herself how committed the Chinese government was to conservation measures to protect the endangered species and looking at its close care made the writer think how special Malaysia is because it can borrow the panda cub not only as a symbol of diplomacy between the two countries, but also as one of the main attractions at Zoo Negara.
Technology innovation, especially artificial intelligence (AI) in China is also very advanced, and among them the writer herself gained new experience through the self-driving car technology that she tried when visiting Shougang Park.
The writer was also keen to deepen her knowledge about AI applications, when participating in a visit to Baidu, which is the company responsible for developing the technology.
While in China, the author also had the opportunity to visit the biopharmaceutical company, Sinovac Biotech Ltd (Sinovac) which produces the CoronaVac type vaccine or better known as the Sinovac vaccine which during the Covid-19 pandemic, was able to produce the vaccine in a short period of time.
Malaysia received the first supply of Sinovac vaccine on Feb 27, 2021 and the vaccine was used in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Plan.
Having the opportunity to visit several capital cities in different regions of the republic such as Chengdu, Hangzhou and Tibet, the writer could see that China is quite a unique and interesting destination to visit.
The mutual visa-waiver policy starting from Dec 1, 2023 until Nov 30, 2024 will boost tourism activities between Malaysia and China, while also contributing towards enhancing the close relations and friendship between the two countries that have been built over the past 50 years. – BERNAMA
