BOMBSHELL – CHINA REITERATES ‘OPEN SUPPORT’ FOR ANWAR’S MADANI GOVT – ‘SPRING IS THE BEST SEASON TO START’ – AND GUESS WHAT! NOW IS SPRING! – WITH FASTING MONTH OVER, CHINA CALLS ON ‘TIN KOSONG’ ANWAR TO FULLY IMPLEMENT THE ‘TWO COUNTRIES, TWIN PARKS INITIATIVE’ & BRI PROJECTS – EVEN AS SINGAPORE, WHOSE PM HSIEN LOONG WAS ALSO IN BEIJING AT THE SAME TIME AS ‘TIN KOSONG’, ALREADY DUE TO START COMBINED DRILLS WITH BEIJING – ‘WE SHOULD STAND CLOSER TO EACH OTHER IN DEALING WITH INTERNATIONAL ISSUES & JOINTLY SAFEGUARD OUR COMMON INTERESTS’
China calls for full implementation of BRI projects
Ties with Malaysia must be strengthened through cooperation and promotion of common interests, says ambassador Ouyang Yujing.
Chinese ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing singled out the Two Countries, Twin Parks and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) as the signature projects that, he said, would bring development opportunities to local areas and job opportunities to local people.
The Two Countries, Twin Parks is an initiative to promote industrial cooperation between the two countries under the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, while the ECRL is a rail link from Port Klang across the peninsula to Kota Bharu.
In a statement issued to FMT, Ouyang said there was also a need to strengthen cooperation in agricultural trade, enhance cultural and educational exchanges and carry out more people-to-people connection programmes.
He was commenting on the recent visit by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to China.
Ouyang described Anwar’s visit as historic for a number of reasons.
He said this was the first meeting between two leaders who had just begun a new term as heads of their respective governments.
Xi Jinping began an unprecedented third term in office as president of China last month, and Anwar was appointed prime minister after the 15th general election in November last year.
Ouyang said Anwar was among the first foreign dignitaries received by the Chinese government after it had begun a new term.
At the same time, this was Anwar’s first official visit to China since taking office.
He said that at their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 31, Xi and Anwar reached a consensus on building a China-Malaysia community and a shared future.
This, he said, was a continuation of a “long-term friendship” between the two countries that had lasted centuries.
“Xi and Anwar recalled Admiral Zheng He’s five visits to Melaka dating back 600 years ago,” he said.
Ouyang said many of the ideas and proposals by Xi, especially those on building a community with a shared future, reflected the aspirations expressed under the “Malaysia Madani” slogan.
“This is the reason why we have chosen to openly support this vision,” he said.
He said that building a shared future was a reflection of the win-win cooperation between the two countries.
“During his visit, Anwar and Premier Li Qiang also witnessed the signing of a series of memoranda of understanding and cooperation in the areas of the economy and trade, agriculture as well as customs services,” Ouyang said.
Anwar was accompanied by a 300-member delegation comprising entrepreneurs who also met with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing to exchange views and share wisdom with a view to working jointly to promote the development of ties between the two countries.
Nineteen of the agreements signed between the two parties will lead to new investments worth RM170 billion in Malaysia, a record high.
Anwar and Li also expressed their commitment to strengthen ties between their two countries.
They also called for efforts to strengthen unity and cooperation to jointly cope with risks and challenges at the Boao Forum.
The Boao Forum is a non-profit organisation that brings together government and business leaders as well as academia of 25 Asian countries and Australia to share their vision on the most pressing regional and global issues.
Ouyang said the leaders of both countries had mapped out the blueprint of the future ties between China and Malaysia and the direction they would follow.
“Going forward, we must enhance and align our development strategy, deepen cooperation, organically integrate the realisation of Chinese modernisation with the implementation of Malaysia Madani and bring more benefits to the people of both countries,” he added. FMT
China-Malaysia ties: Sailing towards a bright shared future
Spring is the season of hope and joy when everything bursts into life.
And Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s official visit to China ended with great success as his plane departed from Beijing Capital International Airport in this early spring.
This is a historic visit with a number of firsts. It is the first-time meeting between leaders of China and Malaysia after both having just formed their respective new-term governments.
Anwar is among the first group of foreign dignitaries received by China’s new-term government. This is also Anwar’s first official visit to China since taking office.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Anwar on the afternoon of March 31, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where the two leaders reached a consensus on jointly building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future.
It is the most important political achievement of the visit.
Building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future is the continuity of the millennium-old friendship between China and Malaysia.
Xi and Anwar both recalled the history of Admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho)’s seven voyages to the “Western Ocean” dating back to 600 years ago, five of which include visits to the then-Malacca empire.
Anwar also spoke about Bukit Cina and Chinese mosques in Malacca, and commented on “the significance of Zheng He’s voyages has gone far beyond that of economic exchanges. It was the communication of cultures and convergence of civilisations.”
The vision of building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future bears the same spirit as the core of the convergence of the two civilisations.
Xi and Anwar exchanged their understandings of philosophical issues, worldviews, social values and world civilisations etc.
Anwar smiled with agreement when hearing Xi quote the famous Confucius saying, “Zheng Zhe Zheng Ye” (to govern means to rectify)” in their talk. The warm talk and spiritual resonance between the two leaders impressed all at present.
Building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future is also a vivid reflection of the win-win cooperation between our two countries.
During this visit, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Anwar jointly witnessed the signing of a series of cooperation documents between the two countries – covering areas of economy and trade, agriculture customs service and others.
Three hundred members of Anwar’s delegation were Malaysian entrepreneurs who followed the former to Beijing to contribute their bits in boosting the economy.
And a thousand business leaders from both countries gathered to exchange views and share wisdom, working hard to jointly promote the development of China-Malaysia relations.
Nineteen business memoranda of understanding (MoU) have been signed as a fruitful outcome of this visit, the total value of which amounted to RM170 billion, hitting a new record in history.
‘China-Malaysia ties a priority’
Building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future adds new footnotes to China-Malaysia’s “weathering-through-thick-and-thin” brotherhood.
Anwar clearly told Li that “Malaysia and China are friends sharing weal and woe together. Malaysians from all walks of life are committed to strengthening ties with China.
And the unity government takes further developing friendly relations with China as its priority task.”
Li and Anwar also called for strengthening unity and cooperation to jointly cope with risks and challenges at the Boao Forum, which is clearly adding certainty to world peace and development.
“Many of the ideas and proposals pioneered by Xi, especially the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, coincide with the idea of ‘Malaysia Madani’.
“This is the reason why we have chosen to openly support this vision.”
Anwar’s statement at the end of the visit showed his high expectations for the future development of China-Malaysia relations and his full recognition of the vision of building China-Malaysia community with a shared future.
Leaders of both countries have mapped out the blueprint of China-Malaysia future relations and pointed out the direction we are to follow.
So, how should we implement the blueprint and bring tangible benefits to the people of both countries and the region? I would like to share my perspective as follows.
Building the China-Malaysia community with a shared future is a great vision. We must further enhance development strategy alignment, deepen high-quality cooperation, organically integrate the realisation of Chinese modernisation with the implementation of “Malaysia Madani” and bring more benefits to the people of both countries.
We should also advocate the Asian civilisation, support Asean’s centrality and jointly push forward the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, Security Initiative and Civilization Initiative.
We must jointly make new contributions to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
And that requires specific tasks to be done. We must continue to fully implement the “Belt and Road Initiative” flagship projects which will bring development opportunities to local areas and job opportunities to local people.
“Two Countries, Twin Parks” and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) are two signature ones. We also need to strengthen cooperation in agricultural trade, enhance cultural and educational exchanges and carry out more people-to-people connection programmes.
Also, we should stand closer to each other in dealing with international issues and jointly safeguard our common interests.
A Chinese saying says, “Spring is the best season to start implementing the whole year’s plan.” We are now rightly in this best season.
Let’s start our new journey in spring and sail towards the bright shared future of the China-Malaysia community!
OUYANG YUJING is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of China to Malaysia. – MKINI
China, Singapore plan military drills as Beijing forges defence ties
China and Singapore will hold a joint military exercise as soon as this week, their first combined drills since 2021, as Beijing deepens its defence and security ties with Southeast Asia, a region with strong existing US alliances.
The Chinese navy will deploy a missile-bearing frigate, the Yulin, and a mine-hunting ship, the Chibi, to the joint maritime exercise which will last from late April to early May, the Chinese defence ministry said in a statement on its website today, without specifying the location.
Two years ago, China and Singapore held a combined military drill in international waters at the southern tip of the South China Sea, following the upgrade of a bilateral defence pact in 2019 to include bigger-scale exercises among their army, navy and air force.
The deeper China-Singapore military cooperation comes at a time of heightened tensions in the South China Sea, an area spanning 3.5 million square km (1.4 million square miles) that is often traversed by Western navies including US vessels conducting freedom of navigation operations.
Such passages annoy China, which lays claims to nearly all of the South China Sea despite an international ruling to the contrary.
In August last year, the US military conducted an expanded Super Garuda Shield exercise with Indonesia that saw the participation of Singapore, Japan and Australia for the first time.
Around the same time, China sent fighter bombers to Thailand in joint air force drills code-named Falcon Strike 2022. Both countries say the exercises, in northeast Thailand near the border with Laos, were defensive in nature.
The drills last summer also took place against the backdrop of elevated tensions in the Taiwan Strait following the visit of former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own.
China’s increased military engagement in Southeast Asia is widely expected to challenge the influence that the US has shaped with countries including Singapore and Indonesia in the coming years. – – Reuters
FREE MALAYSIA TODAY / MKINI / REUTERS
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