For Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali, the biggest difference between him and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is not having to “beg” for foreign direct investment.

"I did not go to foreign powers to beg on my knees," he said.

In yesterday’s Budget 2018 announcement, Najib said that he had learned of Azmin’s trip to China, and wondered if the menteri besar was trying to “sell Selangor.”

Najib's critics have often accused him of doing the same to Malaysia, by taking on loans and contractors from China.

Azmin said that he had gone to China to participate in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Conference, where he spoke of policies and programmes that the Selangor government has implemented...