Foreign and Military Affairs

China cherishes ties with Malaysia, Indonesia

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-04-27 07:33

Journalist: The Malaysia-China relationship has been raised to a higher level, evidenced by the fact that Malaysia has become China's biggest trading partner in ASEAN, and soon the two countries will sign the agreement on mutual recognition of academic degrees. What should the two countries do to further enhance their bilateral relationship at present and in the next 10 years and in what areas should they strengthen cooperation? Prime Minister Najib once said that future success of the Malaysia-China relationship should be based on mutual trust between the two countries. What do you think are the key factors in pushing forward the Malaysia-China relationship?

Wen Jiabao: Before answering your questions, let me recall two major historical events in the history of China-Malaysia relations. The first is that when China was in great difficulty, Malaysia was the first ASEAN member to establish diplomatic relations with China after ASEAN was established. Thirty-seven years ago, the then Malaysian prime minister Abdul Razak, father of current Prime Minister Najib, and Premier Zhou Enlai, signed the joint communiqu on the establishment of diplomatic ties between our two countries. The second is that it was at the proposal of Malaysia 20 years ago that the dialogue process between China and ASEAN was launched. As an ancient Chinese proverb goes, "Forget not the favors that others have done you." We have never forgotten these historical episodes between our two countries.

You talked about the future of China-Malaysia relations in your questions. I agree with you that mutual trust comes first and foremost in China-Malaysia relations. As an old Chinese maxim goes, "In all human relations, if the two parties are living close to each other, they may form a bond through personal trust. If they are far apart, they should use words to communicate their loyalty".

Mutual trust forms the bedrock of our cooperation, and I believe China-Malaysia cooperation enjoys a bright future. I think the following three areas are the priority areas in China-Malaysia cooperation. First, our two countries need to enhance business cooperation. As you mentioned, Malaysia has become China's biggest trading partner among ASEAN countries. According to Chinese statistics, our two-way trade volume reached $74.2 billion last year. What we need to do is to sustain the momentum of balanced, coordinated and sustainable growth of trade, and at the same time increase the science and technology content in trade.

Second, we should promote cooperation in science, technology and education. I noticed a couple of days ago that some local Malaysian newspapers had already shown a keen interest in the fact that the two countries will, during my visit to Malaysia, sign the agreement on mutual recognition of academic degrees. So why have those papers paid so much attention to this? I believe it is because exchanges in education, science and technology represent the future of our bilateral relationship. Exchanges between young people are of particular importance because they carry the historical mission of enhancing friendship and cooperation between our two countries.

Third, we need to increase mutual investment. That includes those key projects that Malaysia has paid much attention to, such as the Penang Second Bridge and the Sarawat paper pulp mill, as well as other cooperation in infrastructure development and key areas. The recent progress we have made in enhancing bilateral cooperation is to strengthen the financial support for our cooperation. I will put forward concrete proposals for better integration of financial cooperation and business cooperation between us. In a word, I believe that through cooperation in these areas, we will open a new page in China-Malaysia relations.

Journalist: ASEAN-China relations have made big progress in recent years. Do you see any challenges in the ASEAN-China relationship? What steps will China take to promote ASEAN-China relations? Some countries, including Indonesia, have some concern over the implementation of CAFTA (the China-ASEAN Tree Trade Arrangement), What's your view on that?

Wen Jiabao: You asked a big question, that is the relationship between China and ASEAN. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the dialogue relationship between China and ASEAN. Over the past 20 years, we have moved from a dialogue relationship to good-neighborly relations and to a relationship of strategic cooperation. China and ASEAN now enjoy all-round cooperation. Take China-Indonesia relations for example. Our two countries established a strategic partnership in 2005, and later we formulated the plan of action for the implementation of the strategic partnership, bringing our bilateral relations into a new stage.

Now China-ASEAN relations have entered a stage of forging ahead in all respects. ASEAN integration has made steady progress. The China-ASEAN FTA has been established. And our cooperation in finance, infrastructure, connectivity and other areas has deepened. Although ASEAN members are at different stages of development, I believe we can all benefit from our cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit and win-win results.

I had the privilege of attending all China-ASEAN leaders' meetings since 2003. I have witnessed the progress in ASEAN integration building and the gradual improvement of such cooperation mechanisms as 10+1, 10+3 and China-Japan-ROK. I believe all these cooperation mechanisms have reinforced each other by drawing upon each other's strengths and achieved common development. They have developed into fairly full-fledged cooperation mechanisms. I hope that China-ASEAN cooperation will continue to move along this healthy track in the right direction.

You are interested in the China-ASEAN FTA. I would like to say that much preparation was made before the FTA was officially inaugurated last year. I believe that the China-ASEAN FTA has brought benefits to both China and ASEAN countries. We have witnessed a tremendous growth in trade between the two sides. For example, China-Indonesia trade expanded by nearly 40 percent in the first quarter of this year, and achieved basic balance.

I want to use this opportunity to address the concerns on the minds of some businesses and individuals with regard to CAFTA. The China-ASEAN free trade arrangement is of mutual benefit and brings win-win results to all parties concerned. We need to make full use of the favorable conditions, especially the preferential policies set out in the FTA. And in the course of China-ASEAN FTA development, we should constantly improve this arrangement in the light of actual circumstances. We need to accommodate the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises, and work together to ensure that the FTA will contribute to the economic development of all sides. With regard to all these aspects, China has always pursued an open approach.

ASEAN and China have stood with each other in tiding over the difficulties of the two financial crises. When Indonesia was struck by severe tsunamis and when China was hit by a devastating earthquake in Wenchuan, we helped and supported each other through those tough times. I believe that all these fully demonstrate the strong brotherly bond between China and ASEAN and between China and Indonesia. Thank you.