On December 31, H.E. Ambassador Ouyang Yujing penned an article titled “Prosper Friendship in Great Times, Join Hands to Shape a Brighter Shared Future”, which has been published on Malaysia’s mainstream Chinese, English, and Malay media including Sin Chew Daily, The Star and Sinar Harian, while also wishing Malaysian readers a Happy New Year. Full text as follows:

Coming to the end of the year, we are happy to see cooperation in all fields fruiting rich achievements. 2025 is extraordinary in the development of China-Malaysia relations, which witnessed both frequent mutual visits between leaders of both countries on various bilateral and multi-lateral occasions, and the elevation of China-Malaysia relations to the new height of building the high-level strategic China-Malaysia community with a shared future. Now, the giant ship of China-Malaysia friendship has set sail again, heading for the new journey of another "golden fifty years".

High-level visits have consolidated political mutual trust. In April this year, President Xi Jinping made his second state visit to Malaysia after his first one twelve years ago, during which President Xi and top leaders of Malaysia exchanged ideas on deepening cooperation and enriching friendship in all fields, jointly elevating China-Malaysia relations to a new historic height. Leaders of both sides have given each other firm support in hosting major diplomatic events. Prime Minister Anwar visited China in the latter half of this year, attending the SCO Summit and events commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Since taking office, Prime Minister Anwar has visited China four times, clearly demonstrating his strong will to promote China-Malaysia relations to an unparalleled height. Premier Li Qiang visited Malaysia twice this year, attending the ASEAN-China-GCC Summit, and the ASEAN Summit and related Meetings respectively, showing China’s clear stance on deepening China-Malaysia relations, supporting Malaysia as ASEAN chair and upholding ASEAN Centrality. Both Deputy Prime Minister Zahid and Deputy Prime Minister Fadillah visited China in the same year, attending the China International Import Expo (CIIE) and China-ASEAN Expo (CAEXPO) respectively, injecting strong drive to prospering cooperation in various fields. Mutual visits of other levels increased significantly, bringing impressive achievements to boost the advancement of building the high-level strategic China-Malaysia community with a shared future.

Pragmatic cooperation has prospered win-win development. Treating each other on equal footing and always benefiting each other, China-Malaysia cooperation has prospered in all fields, laying out the solid foundation for its continued flourishing in the long run. China and Malaysia worked closely to get the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol officially signed within this year. From the perspective of economic and trade cooperation, Malaysia is China's largest import source and second largest trading partner within ASEAN. The first ten months of this year have seen China-Malaysia trade volume scaling to US$159.9 billion. It is highly likely China will be Malaysia's largest trading partner for the 17th consecutive year. From the perspective of industrial cooperation, China has been Malaysia's major investment source in high-end manufacturing for many years, with cumulative investment exceeding US$20.8 billion. Now, the two sides are working in full capacity to speed up building regional hubs to boost the development of new quality productive forces.  Fruitful results have been achieved in digital economy, green development, electric vehicles, data centers, and artificial intelligence, etc., contributing immensely to both countries’ industrial transformation and upgrading. From the perspective of aligning development strategies, the two countries are progressing rapidly in conducting high-quality BRI projects. Now, the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) has achieved 90% completion; the "Two Countries, Twin Parks" has gone through upgrading, and the second 5G network jointly constructed by Huawei and ZTE is progressing well with 60% completion. China’s e-commerce platforms have provided Malaysian SMEs a sea of opportunities to start up, prosper, and go global. Upgrading the Gemas-Johor Bahru Electrified Double Track Project (EDTP) has been successfully completed, adding new drive to Malaysia’s rail industry modernization. By leveraging comparative strengths and aligning development strategies, China and Malaysia will continue to deepen cooperation in various fields and bring more benefits to people of both countries.

People-to-people exchanges have deepened mutual understanding. With mutual visa exemption policy effected in the middle of this year, visits between the two countries have recorded a historic high. The first ten months of this year witnessed over four million Chinese visits to Malaysia. Now, flights between the two countries have surpassed 600 per week. This year saw the new round of "Confucianism-Islam Civilisational Dialogue", global launch of the "Happy Chinese New Year" and screening of "Ne Zha 2" successfully unfolded in Malaysia, all of which added immensely to the popularity of Chinese culture abroad. Just recently, the new pair of giant pandas travelled all the way from Sichuan to Malaysia, happily starting their "Friendship Ambassador" life in KL. This year also saw the "China Ambassador Scholarships" enter more Malaysian universities, the establishment of the first Confucius Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Malaysia, and other fruitful cooperation, all of which enriched the cultural and educational cooperation between the two sides.

Now, the year 2025 is drawing to an end, reminding us to get ready embracing the new promising year 2026. Trusting, prospering and remaining good friends with each other for centuries, China and Malaysia are co-builders of the China-Malaysia community with a shared future. Moving forward, we should strengthen coordination, meet challenges bravely, and jointly safeguard international fairness and justice. Hand in hand, we will bring more benefits to people of Malaysia, China, and the region, at the same time, continue to contribute to world peace, stability and common prosperity.