COMMENT | While we may have awarded the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) project to a China government-owned company, since the country was the one who gave us the soft loan, it is important to know that the Chinese government also favours us to export more to them.

In recent years, China has relaxed its rules on Malaysia's exports to them in the areas of our birds' nests which they had previously banned, as well as durian which they previously only allowed to be imported from Thailand. 

This leads to booming trade for the tens of thousands in those industries.

In February this year, the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia publicly announced that China will not put any limits on Malaysia's palm oil exports to them - something which they had done before and can easily do again.

Palm oil, being an edible oil, is easily replaceable by other edible oils.

If China does not want to use our Malaysian palm oil, they can easily replace it with soybean oil from the US, or coconut oil or corn oil, or even buy their palm oil from Indonesia (which is a much bigger producer) instead of Malaysia.

Our exports to China boomed due to our close relationship and business links. Last year, China overtook India as our second top palm oil export destination. 

As for our exports of rubber and rubber products, China also overtook the US and European Union to become our top export destination last year.

Since the EU started to impose various bans on our palm oil, China is also expected to overtake EU as our top export destination for that product by next year.

In the first 11 months of 2017, our total export of palm oil and palm oil-based products to China grew 9.8 percent to RM8.52 billion, up from RM7.76 billion a year ago.

The total export of rubber and rubber products to China in the first 11 months last year jumped 76 percent year-on-year to RM7.45 billion, compared to RM4.23 billion for the same period in 2016.

This upward trend has continued. 

For the first two months of 2018, Malaysia's exports of palm oil and palm oil-related products have grown to 418,704 tonnes valued at RM1.224 billion compared to 305,072 tonnes valued at RM774 million in the same period of 2016 – up 37 percent in volume and 58 percent in value.

We export close to RM20 billion every year to China just for palm oil and rubber alone, and you want to complain about an RM55 billion project that millions will benefit from and will drive growth in our east coast states?

One of the biggest beneficiaries of our closer trade relationship with China is our Felda settlers, and if Pakatan Harapan comes to power and proceeds to cancel all these China projects, one of the biggest losers will also be our Felda settlers as China will certainly be angered and will retaliate.

It is almost unbelievable that Harapan is trying its hardest to destroy our trade relationship with the fastest-growing large economy that is poised to overtake the US shortly to be the world's number one market.

Harapan seems not to care about Malaysia and our future as long as they grab power. You must remember that business runs both ways and that countries can easily stop or limit our exports - just like how the EU has done.

Do not be narrow-minded. Nobody in the world owes Malaysia a living.

ERIC SEE-TO is BN strategic communications department deputy director.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.