Xinhua
23 Apr 2025

In recent years, the construction of the Malaysia-China community with a shared future has continued to advance steadily, with fruitful achievements in political mutual trust, practical cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Malaysia injected fresh momentum into the deepening of the Malaysia-China community with a shared future, said Abdul Majid Ahmad Khan, president of the Malaysia-China Friendship Association.

During his visit, Xi met with Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar and held talks with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The two sides pledged to build a high-level strategic China-Malaysia community with a shared future to accelerate their modernization efforts and jointly promote regional and global prosperity and stability.

Xi's visit showcased the high-level development and promising prospects of the bilateral relations, said Majid, also a former Malaysian ambassador to China, in an interview with Xinhua.

He noted that in recent years, the construction of the Malaysia-China community with a shared future has continued to advance steadily, with fruitful achievements in political mutual trust, practical cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. These achievements, he said, fully reflected the resilience and potential of bilateral ties.

Majid highlighted that President Xi's signed article published in Malaysian media quoted a Malay proverb -- "water can't be cut apart" -- to describe the enduring friendship between the two countries, calling it "remarkably apt" and reflective of the spirit of "sharing weal and woe" that underpins the bilateral relation.

"Regardless of the challenges we may face, our relationship remains unshakable," Majid said.

During Xi's visit, the two sides exchanged more than 30 bilateral cooperation documents, covering cooperation on three major global initiatives, Confucian-Islamic civilizational dialogue, digital economy and trade in services, among other areas.

Majid said that the cooperation documents, with expanding areas and enriching contents, showed that bilateral ties have entered a new stage of vigorous development, aiming to achieve shared prosperity.

He emphasized that China's development has brought benefits not only to its own people but also to many other countries, including Malaysia. He cited Xiamen University Malaysia and the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park as visible and concrete outcomes of bilateral cooperation.

"(The projects) created job opportunities, and also brought growth to a neglected part of Malaysia," he said.

During the visit, the two sides agreed to become a pacesetter for regional cooperation on new quality productive forces. Focusing on four key areas of digital economy, green economy, blue economy and tourism economy, the two sides pledged to expand future economic cooperation so as to further improve the level and quality of China-Malaysia cooperation.

As Malaysia advances its Ekonomi MADANI initiative and pursues economic transformation, Majid believes that the two countries will achieve better alignment and closer cooperation.

He also said that China's emphasis on green technologies and artificial intelligence provides a new direction for Malaysia to build a sustainable, tech-driven economy.

"By strengthening cooperation with China, Malaysia can upgrade its industrial capabilities and play a more proactive role in the regional economic landscape," he added.

Looking ahead, Majid noted that as Malaysia assumes the ASEAN chairmanship in 2025, it will deepen collaboration with regional partners, including China.

"China has always been one of ASEAN's most dynamic partners -- especially in areas such as connectivity, digital economy and supply chain integration," he said. "These partnerships not only accelerate regional economic integration but also align with the Global South's collective aspiration for development and autonomy."