In conjunction with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Malaysia, Astro AWANI speaks to CGTN reporter Zhao Yunfei about the significance of the visit and what it means for China-Malaysia relations, as well as diplomatic ties with ASEAN.
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00:00Chinese President Xi Jinping's current state visit to Malaysia marks his first trip to the country since 2013.
00:07Joining me now is Zhao Yunfei, a reporter with CGTN, who's also part of the delegation with President Xi.
00:15Yunfei, thank you for joining us in the studio and taking the time to speak to us today.
00:19Thank you for having me, Fei.
00:20It's a pleasure to have you.
00:21Now, talking about President Xi Jinping, his visit comes shortly after the celebration of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China, and that was last year.
00:32What would you say is the significance of this round's visit for China's relationship with Malaysia and ASEAN as a whole?
00:40I think 50 is a great number, and this time, President Xi is taking the opportunity to say that he's looking forward to the next golden 50 years.
00:49So certainly we're marking the first five decades and then coming up to the next five decades.
00:55But what makes this trip really unique for the Chinese President is also probably because of the role of Malaysia, given the fact that Malaysia is the chair of ASEAN this year.
01:06So certainly when the Chinese President making a visit here to Malaysia is not just the opportunity for boosting bilateral ties between the two countries, but also the ties between China and ASEAN.
01:19And now that's looking at the regional bloc as a whole.
01:23But if we're looking at just Malaysia and China for now, China, of course, has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for over a decade.
01:30And when we're looking at current global economic uncertainties, how would you say this trade relationship is being strengthened or made more resilient for the future?
01:39Well, there's many potential, given the fact that the year of 2024, last year, the trading volume was 212 billion U.S. dollars.
01:51That's a record high.
01:53It's not just six consecutive years being as top trading partner as Malaysia, but also the way how it got consistent.
02:01And there are so many more fields of cooperation.
02:04I was watching just now there was a signing agreement between the two countries, the two leaders, President Xi and Prime Minister Anwar, witnessed the signing.
02:16I do a rough count.
02:18It was 30 documents, and all the documents are very detailed.
02:22It only covered a wide range of fields, but also very, very detailed.
02:25There was a document on AI, on navigation system, as well as documents on even coconut and pandas.
02:33So it's really detailed.
02:35Now, pandas are something that Malaysians really love from China's perspective.
02:40And if we're looking at the ASEAN region, then the bigger picture now, how is China working with its regional partners, including Malaysia,
02:48to build trust and kind of manage differences in opinion within the South China Sea?
02:54I want to mention a work conference, a central conference on neighboring countries that China hosted last year.
03:03It's a conference of the political standing committee of the political bureau of CPC Central Committee.
03:08The top leaders of this country, of the party, really attend.
03:12So there was a central conference on neighboring, work related to neighboring countries that happened last week in China.
03:20So China is taking its relationship with its neighboring countries as a top priority in its diplomacy.
03:28And also, that marks the first broad trip for the Chinese president made.
03:33It's the three neighboring countries.
03:35You can tell how China has treasured its relationship with its neighbors, especially who are sharing the same Asian values.
03:43It's definitely special also because it marks President Xi's first overseas visit for this year.
03:48Correct me if I'm wrong.
03:50It is.
03:50And also because a lot of the overseas trips that President Xi usually make are bilateral, multilateral occasions.
03:58But this time, it's three bilateral occasions.
04:02So it's quite unique.
04:03And having Malaysia as one of them just proves the longstanding relationship that the two countries have.
04:08And if we're looking ahead, how does China envision then the next, you spoke about 50 years, the next 50 years of its bilateral and economic relations with Malaysia,
04:19especially under the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership?
04:23Well, because both leaders of the both sides mentioned about synergizing the strategic plans or partnering with the strategic plans,
04:34I think that means more than just economic ties, because this time China has also vowed to strengthen security cooperation,
04:43you know, other fields of cooperation.
04:45And also because our trade has been already very successful, given the critical juncture of, you know, the tariffs situation over here.
04:55But in addition to that, the infrastructure cooperation of the both sides have also really been benefited over the past decades or so.
05:03And then what's the next step?
05:05I think it's more, you know, in-depth, practical fields of cooperation, including people-to-people bond.
05:13And that can really rely on, you know, heavily mutual trust between the two nations.
05:18You're right to say the deepening people-to-people ties really seems to be a priority here.
05:24Well, thank you so much, Yunfei, for offering your insights and talking about Presidency's very extremely timely visit in light of the U.S. tariffs as well.
05:34I've been speaking to Zhao Yunfei from CGTN.
05:38We'll continue to bring you coverage on Presidency's visit to Malaysia.
05:43But for now, we'll head for a quick break.
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