Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim: Building of the Malaysia-China community with a shared future reaches new heights

The building of a community with a shared future between China and Malaysia has scaled new heights, and Malaysia is ready to continue expanding exchanges with China in various fields such as trade, investment, communication, digital economy, and education and deepen mutually beneficial win-win cooperation with China, said Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar made the remarks during an exclusive interview with People's Daily Online during his recent working visit in China.

Malaysia was one of the guest countries of honor at the seventh China International Import Expo (CIIE), which was held in east China's Shanghai from Nov. 5 to 10. Anwar attended the opening ceremony and relevant activities of the event.

The CIIE not only demonstrates China's own development achievements but also provides a platform for developing countries, including Malaysia, to showcase and sell their products, enabling Malaysian companies to access new cooperation opportunities, Anwar said, noting that the expo provides opportunities for Malaysian companies to expand into the Chinese market.

During Anwar's official visit to China in March last year, the leaders of both countries reached a consensus on building a community with a shared future between China and Malaysia, ushering in a new chapter of China-Malaysia relations.

Anwar believes that the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping is based on mutual respect and trust, which aligns closely with the "Prosperous Malaysia" or the MADANI governance concept launched by Malaysia's Unity Government.

"Over the past year, the building of a Malaysia-China community with a shared future has reached new heights," Anwar said.

The year 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia and the China-Malaysia Year of Friendship.

In the 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia, the two countries have adhered to the principles of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation, achieving significant results in various areas of cooperation and maintaining a positive momentum in bilateral relations.

Standing at a new historical starting point, Anwar noted that China and Malaysia are engaging in deep high-level strategic cooperation, and Malaysia hopes to further deepen consensus with China and work together with China to create cooperation opportunities.

Anwar highly praised China's unwavering commitment to high-level opening-up and Chinese modernization. He emphasized that China's achievements in advancing Chinese modernization demonstrate that a country can pursue its own path of development while achieving progress, sharing experience and achievements with the rest of the world, and bringing new development opportunities to other countries.

Malaysia also benefits from China's experience in the development of such fields as new technologies, digitalization, artificial intelligence, and green energy, according to Anwar, who noted that cooperation in these fields is beneficial for China and even more advantageous for ASEAN countries.

He added that Malaysia will leverage its role as the country coordinator of China-ASEAN relations and its upcoming chairmanship of ASEAN next year to strengthen ties between ASEAN countries and China, and work together with other ASEAN countries to enhance cooperation in trade, investment, and other areas with China.