BEIJING, June 19,
2024 /CNW/ -- Construction of the East Coast Rail
Link (ECRL), a mega rail project under the Belt and Road Initiative
in Malaysia being built by the
China Communications Construction Company, is in full
swing.
The project, 60 percent of which was completed in March, is
expected to greatly enhance connectivity and bring more balanced
growth to Malaysia by linking its
less-developed region on the east coast to the economic heartland
on the west coast upon completion.
China is willing to work with
Malaysia to steadily advance the
construction of major projects, such as the East Coast Rail Link
and the "Two Countries, Twin Parks" project while expanding the
scale of trade and investment and promoting cooperation, Chinese
Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday
while meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Li is on an official visit to
Malaysia from June 18 to 20.
China's model of partnership
featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness is no
doubt a refreshing alternative brought to the table of multilateral
cooperation in Southeast Asia. The
dividends accrued were translated into a tailwind upon which the
BRI is riding to triumph in the region where Malaysia is one of the key beneficiaries,
Ong Tee Keat, president of the BRI
Caucus for Asia Pacific and former
transport minister of Malaysia,
wrote in an article published on Wednesday.
China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for 15
consecutive years, and Malaysia
has long been China's
second-largest trading partner in the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Anwar
reached an important consensus on jointly building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future.
During Li's visit, China and
Malaysia agreed to accelerate
building a China-Malaysia community with a shared future,
maintain close high-level exchanges and deepen cooperation in
various sectors. The two sides also agreed to promote the
high-quality implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership and conclude the negotiations for version 3.0 of the
China-ASEAN Free Trade Area as soon as possible.
Strengthening people-to-people bonds
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of
diplomatic relations between China
and Malaysia and the
"China-Malaysia Friendship Year." The past 50 years have seen
China and Malaysia tightening people-to-people
bonds.
In 2023, Malaysia received
around 1.4 million Chinese tourists, making Chinese tourists one of
the top six inbound tourist groups to the country. The recent
visa-free travel waiver has significantly boosted people-to-people
exchanges. "We are positive about reaching over 5 million tourists
from China," said Tourism Malaysia
Director-General Manoharan Periasamy
in April.
During the visit, Li also called on the two sides to deepen
people-to-people and cultural exchanges in areas such as
culture, tourism and education, as well as between the youths of
the two nations and at the subnational level to further facilitate
personnel exchanges between the two countries.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-06-19/China-Malaysia-to-step-up-building-a-community-with-a-shared-future-1uyN4pXEwF2/p.html
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SOURCE CGTN