KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today said he will never sell off the country’s sovereignty, stressing that the country’s warming ties with China would not jeopardise Malaysia’s sovereignty.

Hitting back at critics, Najib listed multiple business initiatives between Malaysia and China, saying that these are the "real and transformative results of the excellent relations” that the two countries have built.

"These relations do not compromise sovereignty one bit, contrary to what Opposition politicians here have said. I will never sell Malaysia’s sovereignty,” he said at the grand opening of China Construction Bank’s branch in Malaysia.

Najib instead said Malaysia has always been a country that is "open and friendly to all” that is a preferred destination for foreign direct investment.

"To turn away these investments out of a narrow and foolish belief — and a fundamental misunderstanding of economics — would only be bad for this country,” he said.

"To those critics who say ‘too much, too fast, too soon’, I say this: If you want to delay Malaysia’s development, if you want Malaysia to fall behind, and if you don’t want jobs to be created or levels of income to rise, then you go and campaign on that platform,” he said, without naming these critics.

"I will never apologise for facilitating investment in Malaysia. These ventures are in the interests of all, for the rakyat here in Malaysia and for our partners from abroad,” he added.

Earlier, Najib had cited memorandums of understanding (MoU) that were signed for the export of Malaysian pineapples into China and to boost palm oil exports to China, as well as joint ventures for a RM2 billion factory in Sarawak and luxury commercial hub The Shore in Sabah.

He also cited the Digital Free Trade Zone launched here in collaboration with China’s Alibaba group, and highlighted the growth in tourism receipts from China.

Najib added that Malaysia hopes to see the number of Chinese tourists here going up from last year’s 2.1 million to three million this year.

In the same speech, Najib also highlighted that China Construction (Malaysia) Berhad (CCBM) is the first foreign commercial bank to have received a Malaysian banking licence in the last six years.

"I commend China Construction Bank for their wisdom in setting up a branch in Kuala Lumpur in view of Malaysia’s great potential. I also thank CCB for indicating that the Kuala Lumpur branch will be the hub for the Asean region,” he said.

"So I hope that China Construction Bank will be one of many banks to help finance new projects for enterprising and dynamic Malaysian companies.

"I’ve just been told by the (CCB) chairman that even before this launch, CCB has already financed 20 ventures in Malaysia,” he said, later adding that he hoped the bank would proactively finance high-priority infrastructure projects here including highways, railways, ports, airports, telecommunications, power and affordable housing.

Earlier, CCB chairman Wang Hongzhang noted that the bank’s success in being the first foreign bank to secure a licence here in six years should be attributed to the "friendly relations” between China and Malaysia, highlighting China president Xi Jinping’s October 2013 visit here and Najib’s four visits to China since 2014.

Wang said CCB hopes to bolster local economic growth and had made preparations to finance local projects such as railways, adding that the bank "will leverage its rich experience and solid capital strength to finance Malaysia’s infrastructure development”.

"Meanwhile CCB is China’s largest personal mortgage bank and plans to offer residential mortgage-related services to Malaysian residents at a proper timing in the future,” he said.

"CCB will also keep BNM and other local regulators assured by complying with the Malaysian laws and mandatory requirements and upholding compliance operation,” he said.

According to Wang, CCB is one of the world’s largest commercial banks with gross total assets valued at 21 trillion RMB and with 251 branches in 29 countries.

According to Bank Negara Malaysia, CCB’s wholly-owned local subsidiary CCBM had last November 1 received a commercial bank licence granted by the Finance Minister and had started operations this January 27.