KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — The Chinese embassy gave an assurance today that the communist republic’s enhanced ties with Malaysia will benefit citizens of both countries.

The embassy said its cooperation with Malaysia is based on mutual benefit and equality, adding that it was the result of long-term effort of both nations.

"The cooperation between China and Malaysia will bring both immediate and long-term benefits to our nations. This cannot and will not hurt the interest of the people of Malaysia,” it said in a translated statement published by local English-language daily The Star.

The embassy was responding to allegations that China was "robbing rice bowls” of Malaysians through its investments here and cited various facts to counter the claim which it described as a lie.

It noted among other things that more and more Chinese companies have formed mutually beneficial cooperation with Malaysian firms to promote economic development and create more jobs for the locals.

China had also prioritised the people by agreeing not to set an import limit on Malaysian palm oil and encouraged Chinese firms to invest in Malaysia’s palm oil industry to benefit hundreds of thousands of smallholders, it said.

The embassy highlighted that China and Malaysia’s recent agreement during Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s recent visit to allow raw birds’ nest to be imported from Malaysia into China benefited tens of thousands of local farmers.

It also cited China’s agreement to provide RM55 billion to finance the construction of the East Coast Rail Link to help bring economic development to the relatively backward east coast areas, with the move also covering the bringing in of equipment, skills transfer, local procurement and job creation.

The embassy also said Malaysia and China’s total bilateral trade in recent years is at around US$100 billion (RM438.9 billion), with China being Malaysia’s largest trading partner consecutively for the last seven years.

Malaysia has been China’s biggest trading partner in Asean for the last eight years, it said.