KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia can expect an influx of investment from China now that the new deal on the East Coast Rail Link has been signed and the project will resume next month, says China's Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian.

In a media roundtable Thursday (April 18), he said the investments would meet Malaysia's economic development needs, with the high-tech industry being one of the key areas.

He also said China would encourage its companies to buy more Malaysian palm oil and palm oil-elated products.

"Malaysia is an ideal place for Chinese investments. There is a long queue of Chinese investments outside the MIDA office," he said.

The amicable settlement on the ECRL was important for Chinese firms as they did not want to have their own investments suffer a fate such as the ECRL, which Malaysia at one point wanted to scrap, he added.

According to Bai Tian, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's visit to China next week would provide further impetus to attract more Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) into Malaysia.

Some signing of deals are expected to take place during his visit.

Last year, Chinese manufacturing investments in Malaysia totalled about RM20bil, and was the biggest industrial FDI into the country.