First conceived in 2013, the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) is a marquee project for the company and country building it.

Most of the line -- 335km of it -- will be in Malaysia, with the remaining 15km in Singapore.

According to Channel NewsAsia, the joint tender for the HSR project, estimated to be worth some $14 billion, will open in the fourth quarter of 2017.

But it is not just the money that is at stake.

It is national pride too, especially among the big Asian countries competing for the prize.

In an interview with Bernama last November, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong revealed that several high-speed rail systems in the world -- the Japanese, Koreans and Chinese -- "have been lobbying very hard" for the contract, and deciding which one is best would be a very difficult decision.

Hence, it is no surprise that China is embarking on an aggressive charm offensive to sway Malaysia.

Chinese train exhibition at KL

On Jan 16, the China High Speed Railway Experience Cube exhibition was launched by China Railway Corporation (CRC) to provide Malaysians with a preview of the Chinese interpretation of the HSR.

The three month exhibition is held at KL Sentral station.

Was the exhibition held to educate Malaysians about the benefits of HSR?

Let's hear it from Yang Zhongmin, chairman of China Railway International Group Co. Ltd, a subsidiary under the CRC.

Xinhua reported Yang saying that the event is not only to show the benefits of HSR, but also to show to the Malaysian government and public that his team is capable of providing "the most advanced, the most mature and the safest solution for the HSR project linking Singapore and Malaysia."

Talk about being subtle.

China's aggressiveness being countered by Malaysia's diplomacy

China is perceived by some to be the front runner to undertake the HSR project as it won a bid last October to build the East Coast Rail Link, a 620km line costing $13 billion.

In fact, Huang Huikang, the China's Ambassador to Malaysia, was bullish about China's prospects of winning the bid because of China's friendship with Malaysia.

This was what Huang said during the exhibition launch, as reported by Channel NewsAsia:

"10 years is too long. Five years is enough for Malaysia and Singapore to have its own high speed railway. Malaysia can do this in cooperation with China because in 10 years we can build up more than a 20,000km high speed rail. Why Malaysia cannot?"

Trust Syed Hamid Albar, the former Malaysian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs and Defence to diplomatically manage the aggressiveness of the Chinese by highlighting the role of Singapore in the equation.

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This was what the Malaysian Land Public Transport Commission chairman said:

"Malaysia always think ahead. It was in 1974 on the 8th of August, when our then 2nd Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak went to China to sign diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia. And that is the first ASEAN country that signed bilateral relations (with China).

So Excellency (addressing Huang), we have been going on improving our relationship with China, in the economics and political and security and socio-cultural (aspects) -- and we expect that all these relationships will bring us mutual respect, mutual benefit that will be able to contribute to the good of the bilateral relations, the regional peace and stability, as well as our role on the international space.

So Excellency, I'm very happy with the Chinese -- I think I was counting about 1,2,3, 4...9 consortium! So the Chinese always goes in a big way, after all, China is a big country."

Now wait for it...

But I'm not so sure whether we can go against the bilateral relations.

The bilateral agreement between Singapore and Malaysia, the High Speed Rail will be completed and commissioned by 2026, Excellency.

No matter how fast China can be, we are guided by them, by the bilateral relations between Malaysia and Singapore, what we have agreed.

Nuff said.

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Top photo by China Railway Malaysia Facebook page.