KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 24 — China will teach its citizens on how to behave when visiting Malaysia as tourists, China’s Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian said.

He said the embassy in Malaysia was notified of complaints on its citizens being disrespectful of Malaysians’ sensitivities, which he said had embarrassed Beijing, The Sunday Star reported today.

"The Chinese have a civilisation dating back 5,000 years and we know how to behave properly and not offend others,” he was quoted as saying.

He reportedly said the embassy here was concerned about reports of misbehaviour by Chinese tourists in Malaysia.

Bai referred to a past case in which Chinese tourists showed insensitive behaviour in front of a Sabah mosque and the Malaysian authorities’ response.

"What the Malaysian authorities did was right. On our part, we will educate our tourists to behave properly in Malaysia.”

The diplomat was speaking at the "Bicara Duta” event in conjunction with Malaysia and China’s 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

According to Tourism Malaysia’s data, China contributes the third-highest number of tourists to Malaysia in 2017 with 2,281,666 visitors, and again in 2018 with 2,944,133 visitors.

As for spending by Chinese tourists in Malaysia, the amount spent was the second highest among tourists from all other countries with RM 9.05 billion in 2017, and RM12.3 billion in 2018.

Based on Tourism Malaysia’s latest available data from January 2019 to June 2019, China remains the third-highest contributor of tourists to Malaysia at 1,558,782 visitors, with Chinese tourists again the second-highest spenders at RM7.086 billion.