Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday, April 15 for a highly anticipated state visit. With this move, Xi seeks to promote China as a reliable alternative to an escalating trade war with the United States.
Xi said he was “looking forward to … further deepening the traditional friendship” between China and Malaysia, CCTV, a Chinese state broadcaster, reported. He said he would “have an in-depth exchange of views” in meetings with Anwar and king Sultan Ibrahim, according to CCTV. “With the joint efforts of both sides, this visit will surely achieve fruitful results,” the broadcaster reported him as saying.
He and Anwar will witness the signing of a range of bilateral agreements, according to the Malaysian foreign ministry.
“China will work with Malaysia… to combat the undercurrents of geopolitical and camp-based confrontation, as well as the countercurrents of unilateralism and protectionism,” Xi wrote in an article for Malaysia’s The Star newspaper on Tuesday.
China has remained Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, with total trade between the two countries accounting for 16.8% of Malaysia’s global trade last year, according to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry.
Xi’s arrival came hot on the heels of his visit to Vietnam. The two nations said, “they will jointly oppose hegemony and power politics [and] jointly oppose unilateralism in all forms,” in a joint statement published Tuesday in Vietnamese state media after Xi’s visit.
China and Vietnam signed 45 cooperation agreements on Monday, April 14, including on supply chains, artificial intelligence, joint maritime patrols and railway development.
Xi said at a meeting with Vietnam’s top leader To Lam that their countries were “standing at the turning point of history … and should move forward with joined hands.”