On November 5, Ambassador Ouyang Yujing attended the award ceremony of the “China Ambassador Scholarship” at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and delivered a speech entitled “A Community with a Shared Future, A Path Toward Common Progress”. The full text is as follows:

Honourable Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof. Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani, Distinguished faculty and dear students,

It is my great pleasure to visit the beautiful Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) and to meet all of you here today. UUM is Malaysia’s only comprehensive university specializing in management education. Its graduates have excelled across various sectors and have actively contributed to exchanges and cooperation between China and Malaysia.

The Chinese Embassy stands ready to assist UUM in strengthening its connections with Chinese universities and promoting cooperation in talent development and joint research. I sincerely wish UUM continued success in nurturing more talents who can serve the development of the nation and the needs of society.

Just a week ago, the Leaders’ Meetings on East Asian Cooperation were held in Kuala Lumpur. Nearly thirty national leaders gathered to discuss major issues of regional cooperation, marking the successful conclusion of Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship. H.E. Li Qiang, Premier of the State Council of China, attended the meetings. This is his second visit to Malaysia this year and his third since June last year. Such frequent exchanges are rarely seen in the history of China’s interactions with other countries.

Today, I would like to share with you the development of China-Malaysia relations, using three phrases starting with the letter “S” as a guide: Shared Community, Shared Prosperity, and Shared Connectivity.

The first phrase is “Shared Community”. As early as the 6th century, Kedah established official contact with China. Over the past fifty years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, frequent high-level exchanges have deepened political mutual trust and guided the steady advancement of the China-Malaysia Community with a Shared Future.

China has always regarded Malaysia as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy. The two countries have treated each other on the basis of equality and support, setting an example of state-to-state relations.

In April this year, President Xi Jinping paid a successful state visit to Malaysia, ushering in a new era of the “Golden 50 Years” of our bilateral relations. The visit elevated our ties to a new strategic height with the announcement of building a High-Level Strategic China-Malaysia Community with a Shared Future. This marks another major step forward following our announcement to build a community with a shared future in 2023.

High-level interactions between China and Malaysia are as close as those between family members. Within just a year and a half, Premier Li Qiang has visited Malaysia three times. Other Chinese leaders — including NPC Chairman Zhao Leji, Vice President Han Zheng, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Vice Premier He Lifeng, and State Councillor Wang Xiaohong — have all visited Malaysia.

According to our Embassy’s figures, in 2023 and 2024, over 50 delegations at the vice-ministerial level or above visited Malaysia each year. From January to date this year, this number has already reached 62.

On the Malaysian side, Deputy Prime Ministers Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Fadillah Yusof, and Parliament Speaker Johari Abdul, have all made official visits to China, some more than once. In just a few days, Senate President Awang Bemee will also visit China at the invitation of the Chinese side. Nearly every Malaysian cabinet minister maintains regular contact with the Chinese side.

Each of these visits produces fruitful outcomes, pushes our relations forward, and delivers tangible benefits to the peoples of both nations.

The second phrase is “Shared Prosperity”. Trade between China and Malaysia dates back to the 2nd century BC. When our diplomatic ties were established in 1974, the bilateral trade volume was less than USD 200 million. Last year, it reached USD 212.04 billion — an increase of more than 1,000 times in fifty years. China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while Malaysia is now China’s 10th largest trading partner.

Through the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, flagship projects such as the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), the “Two Countries, Twin Parks” initiative, and the Geely-Proton partnership have generated substantial employment and economic growth in Malaysia. The ECRL project has achieved over 86% completion, creating nearly 20,000 local jobs, and is expected to boost Malaysia’s GDP by 2.7% during its construction phase alone.

A major highlight of President Xi Jinping’s state visit was the agreement between our two sides to jointly build a regional hub for cooperation in new quality productive forces, setting the direction for practical cooperation.

China and Malaysia will focus on the frontier areas of digital economy, green economy, and artificial intelligence, and strengthen the integrated development of our industrial, supply, value, data, and talent chains. We will establish joint laboratories, set benchmarks for regional high-quality development, and contribute to our respective modernization journeys. Notably, the two sides signed more than 30 cooperation documents, achieving a record number of cooperation outcomes.

The third phrase is “Shared Connectivity”. People-to-people exchanges are the source of life for bilateral relations. As early as 2,000 years ago, the peoples of China and Malaysia started friendly exchanges. In the 7th century, the Chinese monk Yijing visited the Bujang Valley in Kedah. In the Ming Dynasty, the great navigator Zheng He and his fleet stayed in Melaka five times in his seven voyages to the Western Seas — leaving behind a story of friendship that has been told for centuries.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two countries have continued to expand cooperation in culture, education, and tourism. 

Tourism serves as a barometer of people-to-people ties. For years, China and Malaysia have remained each other’s top travel destinations. China is also Malaysia’s largest source of tourists outside ASEAN. Last year, the two governments implemented a mutual visa exemption policy, greatly facilitating travel between our peoples. In 2024, 3.726 million Chinese visitors came to Malaysia — surpassing pre-pandemic levels. From January to August this year, the figure has already reached 3.259 million. Currently, there are over 600 weekly flights between our two countries.

Young people are the future of China-Malaysia relations. More and more Chinese students are coming to Malaysia to study, making it one of their top overseas education destinations. We look forward to creating more opportunities to enhance youth exchanges, and let the tree of China-Malaysia friendship flourish even more beautifully from generation to generation.

Faculty and students,

Last month, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was successfully concluded. The session adopted the Recommendations for Formulating China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, presenting a grand blueprint for China’s economic and social development in the coming five years, and demonstrating a vision of win-win cooperation with the rest of the world.

The session emphasized the need to expand high-level opening up, foster win-win cooperation, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

China is ready to synergize its development strategies with Malaysia’s RMK-13 Plan, to fully implement the Five-Year Plan for China-Malaysia Economic and Trade Cooperation, to further tighten economic and trade linkages, to cultivate new drivers of growth for our bilateral relations, and to broaden cultural and people-to-people exchanges in order to consolidate the foundation of public support for friendship.

A modernizing China will bring greater opportunities for the common development of all countries, including Malaysia. A China committed to peace and development will demonstrate even greater responsibility in advancing the progress of humanity.

Faculty and students,

As Prime Minister Anwar said, the friendship between Malaysia and China is as deep as the sea and as enduring as the stars; it is forever vibrant and full of hope.

China-Malaysia relations are now at their best in history, creating great opportunities for young people to grow and realize their potential.

At the same time, you also shoulder great responsibilities. I hope you will put what you have learned into practice, with your youthful energy and vitality, and contribute to the advancement of China-Malaysia cooperation and to the building of a High-Level Strategic China-Malaysia Community with a Shared Future.

May you all become witnesses, participants, and contributors to the enduring friendship between our two countries, and may you bring renewed vitality to our bilateral relations.

Thank you.