“Malaysia has always been a neutral country and we don’t take sides, even with China. Whether it is this government or the previous government, we’ve always been neutral with everyone.

“Therefore, we could be benefiting more in terms of bilateral trade. Malaysia has signed 16 free trade agreements (FTAs), seven bilateral and nine regional,” he said, adding that there are two FTAs within the BRICS bloc: regional cooperation and integration (RCI) and the regional comprehensive economic partnership (RCEP).

Speaking at the Insap economic forum on July 12, Dass also noted that there are growing calls, especially from within BRICS, for replacing the US dollar as the international trading currency.

He said Malaysia should always be looking at it from an alternative payment gateway perspective, not a substitute for the dollar.

“If you look at global forex transactions, it is still about 88% dollar. The renminbi moved from 3% to 7%, but for renminbi to move further, China will have to change its policies to allow the currency to move more freely.

“Beijing should not be controlling inflow and outflow, so this is the pinch. As such, at the moment, the currency is not convertible.

However, he said, moving forward 10 to 15 years down the road, as China progresses, the ratio of dollar transactions could come down from more than 80% to around 50%, but still the dollar will not be replaced.