Malaysia should take "take advantage" of the opportunities arising from escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China, Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told CNBC on Thursday.

The Malaysian economy has been "influenced" by the ongoing trade war between Washington and Beijing, he said, but that could actually be "positive" for the country in the short run despite the outlook appearing "a bit uncertain," Lim said.

There have been many inquiries from those "who wish to be in the right position" if the trade war escalates, he said.

"Our problem at the moment, with our manufacturing industries, is a problem of capacity — whether we can ramp up capacity in the shortest possible time," Lim said. "There's a lot of inquiries, not only from China but also from United States."

"We should try to take advantage (of the situation) whilst we can," he added.

But he acknowledged that "in the long term, we hope the trade war would fizzle out because it's not good for the global economy and what's not good for the global economy is not good for Malaysia in the long term."

Lim said he supported global trade, "especially if it is fair."