KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Four decades of China's reform and opening-up have greatly transformed the country and elevated its global status, countries like Malaysia are set to benefit from a more open China, said a former Malaysian ambassador.

Abdul Majid Ahmad Khan, Malaysia's ambassador to China from 1998 to 2005, still remembers what China looked like in the early 1980s when he had his first diplomatic post there, shortly after the start of the reform and opening-up.

"What we observed at that time in China is that everything was scarce," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Later, he witnessed how the policy had transformed China.

"When we look back 40 years from now, the transformation and changes have been very phenomenal and this change is real. It affects every corner of China. It transformed all aspects of Chinese lives toward betterment," he said.

Meanwhile, the benefit of China's reform and opening-up goes beyond national borders, he stressed, noting that China's status has grown in these years "from a nobody in global trade to the second economic power" and China's global influence has been expanding.

"China not only has created wealth for itself for the last 40 years, but is now able to share that wealth with other countries through their aid programs, trade," he said.

After retiring from the diplomatic career, Majid started to serve as the president of the Malaysia-China Friendship Association. He remains active in pushing for greater ties between the two countries and keeps a close watch on China's development.

He said he will be closely following the "two sessions", the annual meetings of China's top legislature and political advisory body.

"I think not only me (but also) the whole world is looking at this," he said, adding that he expects to see China make more contributions to the world, in terms of development, peace and global governance.

"We hope China can play a stronger and wider role in the world. Our expectation is that as we move on, trade and commerce becoming very important, China in the coming years will open its door wider," he said.

"A poor China is not good for us," he added. "A prosperous China, a stable China, is good for the neighbors, and we also benefit from this."