ACC Secretary-General Met with President of Malaysia-China Friendship Association

On 14 October 2015, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) Secretary-General H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping met with President of Malaysia-China Friendship Association Dato' Abdul Majid Ahmad Khan in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Both sides exchanged views on ASEAN-China relations, Malaysia-China relations, etc..

Secretary-General Yang commended President Dato' Majid for his remarkable contribution to Malaysia-China relations and ASEAN-China relations during his over 10-year term as President of Malaysia-China Friendship Association and 7-year term as the Malaysian Ambassador to China. She noted that Malaysia-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership enjoyed sound momentum. Last year, both sides celebrated the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations. All-dimensional cooperation in politics, trade, finance and infrastructure had made abundant achievements. The two countries were expected to deepen mutual trust, enhance cooperation, and elevate the bilateral ties to a higher level.

Secretary-General Yang hailed the extraordinary path of over 24 years of ASEAN and China dialogue relations, citing mutual trust and support, common development and win-win outcomes. She expressed that ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership had not only brought about tangible benefits to the peoples of both sides, supported the ASEAN Community building process, but also served as cornerstone of peace, development and prosperity of the region. ASEAN and China enjoyed ample room for cooperation, as the combined population was about 2 billion. 2016 would mark the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations. ASEAN and China should further cement unity, enhance cooperation, implement the “2+7” cooperation framework and join hands to build a closer community of common destiny.

Secretary-General Yang briefed on ACC’s work, highlighting ACC’s mandate to promote cooperation in trade, investment, education, culture and tourism, as well as enhance mutual understanding and friendship between peoples of ASEAN and China. She pledged ACC’s willingness to enhance cooperation with the Malaysia-China Friendship Association, and jointly work for better development of Malaysia-China relations and ASEAN-China relations.

President Dato' Majid said Malaysia-China relations enjoyed solid foundation. Cooperation in politics, economy, trade, investment, non-traditional security and other areas kept deepening. Malaysia attached great importance to its relations with China. Both countries had mapped out a series of plans for further cooperation. Malaysia would dock its own development strategy with China’s policies and initiatives, so as to benefit from China’s development.

President Dato' Majid hailed the achievements of ASEAN-China relations as exciting. He stressed ASEAN and China should continue to cooperate and seek win-win outcomes. China had rich resources and enjoyed technical strength. ASEAN was pursuing connectivity and was in great demand of fund and techniques. Hence ASEAN and China enjoyed broad prospects for cooperation. He commended ACC’s remarkable work in promoting Malaysia-China and ASEAN-China relations, and was of the view that ACC’s work had always been in line with the priorities and actual needs of ASEAN-China cooperation. As the only inter-governmental organization between ASEAN and China, ACC would achieve more in the future. The Malaysia-China Friendship Association vowed to work closely with ACC, and contribute to the further development of Malaysia-China and ASEAN-China friendly relations.