China vows to maintain friendly ties with Malaysia hinh anh 1Chinese President Xi Jinping (second from right) welcomes Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (Source: nst.com.my)

Beijing (VNA) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on August 20 reiterated his country’s commitment to developing friendly ties with Malaysia and expressed his confidence in further intensifying relations in the new era.

Meeting Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Beijing, Xi showed his appreciation for the great importance Mahathir has attached to advancing ties between the two countries.

He called on the two countries to respect each other, settle issues through negotiations and friendly cooperation, so as to achieve mutually beneficial and win-win results.

The two countries should enhance the quality and efficiency of China-ASEAN cooperation, speed up construction of the East Asia economic community, create a new impetus for South-South cooperation, strengthen the representation and voice of developing countries, and take a firm position against unilateralism and trade protectionism, Xi stated.

Mahathir, in turn, stressed that his country’s friendly policy toward China remains unchanged.

Appreciating China’s achievements in industrial and trade fields, he said that China is welcomed to invest more in Malaysia. He hoped through this approach, bilateral cooperation can be cemented and people of the two countries will benefit.

Also on August 20, the Malaysian PM met with Li Zhanshu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The two took the occasion to call for more cooperation between the two countries’ legislatures.

The same day, Mahathir had a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.

Speaking at a joint press conference later, Mahathir said that his visit to China had produced many outcomes.

Meanwhile, Li affirmed that China is willing to boost bilateral ties and economic cooperation with Malaysia.

Mahathir is paying an official visit to China from August 17 to 21.-VNA
VNA