Amidst a raging trade war with the United States of America and the Trump administration, People’s Republic of China president Xi Jinping landed in Malaysia on 15 April for a three-day visit, marking his first official visit after 12 years.
Xi is on a South East Asia tour, having visited Vietnam prior to his arrival in Kuala Lumpur.
Over in the US, conservative commentator and television host Bill O’Reilly mocked the Chinese president’s trip.
“Hey president Xi, let me break it to you. Those folks have no money at all, okay. They cannot help you. They’re not going to buy your stuff because they don’t have any money,” he said in a video clip that is now circulating on social media.
“And so, I don’t know why you’re going there because now maybe he’s trying to sneak in Chinese goods under the Vietnamese label but that’s gonna be easily exposed,” O’Reilly added.
Somehow convinced that the US “has money”, a visibly amused O’Reilly appeared genuinely confused about Xi’s visits.
“The Malays aren’t gonna buy your stuff they don’t have any money,” O’Reilly confidently remarked.
Malaysia’s GDP grew 5.1 percent in Q4 2024
Let us break it down for you, O’Reilly.
The “Malays” have no money?
Before we get into the data, a simple observation of trade between Malaysia and China can be made by looking at online shopping platforms.
Malaysians have been buying stuff directly from China for years.
Pick any random Malaysian household and you’ll see a huge number of Made In China products.
Meanwhile, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s (DOSM) 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) report, Malaysia’s economy stood at a value of RM1.93 trillion in last year’s fourth quarter.
In fact, the country’s GDP rose from 3.6 percent in 2023 to 5.1 in 2024.
Additionally, the gross national income per capita (average income of an individual in a country) increased by 3.6 percent to RM54,894.
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