Chinese president concludes visit to Malaysia

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-11 19:39

KUALA LUMPUR: Chinese President Hu Jintao ended his one-day visit to Malaysia and left Kuala Lumpur Wednesday, having met with the country's senior leaders and set an agenda for closer bilateral ties.

During his visit here, the first by a Chinese head of state for 15 years, President Hu met Malaysian Supreme Head of State Mizan Zainal Abidin and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

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President Hu and Mizan expressed satisfaction with the good momentum in the development of bilateral ties, saying they were ready to work together to further deepen China-Malaysia cooperation to the benefit of their peoples and to make a greater contribution to peace and development in the region.

Hu said that, when profound and complicated changes had taken place in the region and consequences of the international financial crisis were still keenly felt, expanding strategic cooperation between China and Malaysia was not only in the common interests of both countries, but also conducive to regional stability and prosperity.

The two countries had maintained close communication and coordination on major international and regional issues and had worked together to safeguard the interests and rights of developing countries, he said.

Mizan welcomed President Hu's visit to Malaysia, saying the two countries shared a time-honored friendship and close ties.

Mizan said his country admired the achievement of the People's Republic of China over the six decades since its founding.

It was very important for the two countries to step up bilateral economic cooperation amid the current global economic recession, he said.

During Hu's meeting with Najib, the two leaders agreed to jointly advance the two countries' strategic and cooperative relations.

Hu said that, in the 35 years since China and Malaysia established diplomatic ties, bilateral relations had been increasingly mature with substantial results in all fields.

In 2004, the two nations established strategic cooperation relations, resulting in greater mutual trust and increased trade cooperation, Hu said. Last year, bilateral trade exceeded $53 billion and Malaysia had become China's biggest trading partner among Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries. Mutual investment, cooperation in energy, infrastructure, education, culture, and defense had been fruitful, Hu said.

China and Malaysia had also worked closely on major international and regional issues, Hu said. China highly appreciated Malaysia's firm support to China on its core issues, such as Taiwan, Tibet and Xinjiang.

Hu said leaders of the two countries had always perceived and handled bilateral relations from a strategic level and long-term perspective. Leaders from both sides had actively pushed forward practical cooperation in all fields and added strong impetus to the growth of bilateral links.

China and Malaysia should earnestly implement their joint action plan of strategic cooperation by actively exploring new areas of cooperation for common development, said Hu during his talks with Najib.

He put forward four proposals in advancing the bilateral links between China and Malaysia. First, efforts should be made to deepen the bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

The two nations should make full use of the favorable conditions of the China-ASEAN free trade zone to be built next year, by exploring their cooperative potential and promoting the steady growth of bilateral trade.

Calling for more cooperation in investment between the two sides, Hu encouraged Chinese companies to take part in infrastructure projects in Malaysia. He also urged more cooperation with Malaysia in energy and finance sectors.

Second, the two countries should deepen their cooperation in education, science and technology, culture and tourism, Hu said, adding that more young people from Malaysia were welcome to study in China.

The president hoped the two sides worked closely to further improve the Confucius School in Malaysia and looked forward to an impressive show by Malaysia at the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

Hu also called for more cooperation with Malaysia in defense and security, and on major regional and world affairs.

China attached great importance to the role Malaysia had been playing in ASEAN, the Islamic world and developing countries, Hu said.

China would, as always, support the ASEAN integration process and the development of the ASEAN Community, he said. China would continue to actively expand friendly cooperation with Islamic nations and work with them to safeguard the rights and interests of developing countries, the Chinese leader added.

Najib said President Hu's visit was of symbolic importance as the two countries celebrated the 35th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. The visit would lift the comprehensive strategic and cooperative relationship between the two countries to new heights, he said.

Hailing Hu's proposals on advancing their bilateral relations, Najib said the time-honored Malaysia-China relations were built on the core value of mutual respect and trust. Expanding Malaysia-China relations was conducive to the development of both countries and the whole region.

Malaysia was ready to work with China to explore new areas of bilateral cooperation and further deepen and reinforce their strategic and cooperative relations, Najib said.

After the meeting, Hu and Najib attended a signing ceremony of a series of cooperation contracts, including a memorandum of understanding between the China Banking Regulatory Commission and Bank Negara Malaysia on banking supervision cooperation.

Malaysia has become China's largest trade partner among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The two-way trade between the two Asian countries reached $53.47 billion in 2008, two years ahead of a target of $50 billion set by the Chinese and Malaysian leaders.