Signs over 30 bilateral cooperation deals spanning AI, infrastructure and Agriculture; China-Malaysia trade reached $212 billion in 2024
As the second-largest trading partner of China and the largest source of imports within ASEAN, Malaysia welcomed Chinese president Xi Jinping to Malaysia in mid-April for a high-level strategic meeting. Both countries have been able to promote a shared future by creating the first-ever high-level strategic community, thus benefiting their peoples and contributing to the prosperity of their regions.
Trade between China and Malaysia reached $212 billion in 2024, nearly 1,000 times what it was at the beginning of diplomatic relations. Xi called on the two countries to hold on to their strategic independence, find ways to make development synergies, and enhance their civilizational exchanges during his meeting with Malaysian Premier Anwar Ibrahim.
Xi and Anwar signed over 30 bilateral cooperation deals after the meeting, illustrating their commitment to enhancing high-quality cooperation across AI, infrastructure, and agriculture.
China has been Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, while Malaysia remains China’s second-largest trading partner and the largest source of imports within the ASEAN.
The two leaders agreed to resist decoupling and supply chain disruptions with openness and cooperation during their meeting, as they both opposed indiscriminate tariffs. According to Xi, Asia must respond to the law of the jungle with Asian values of peace, cooperation, openness, and inclusion, and it must respond to an unstable and uncertain world with a stable, certain Asia. In the same context, Anwar said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will not endorse any unilaterally imposed tariffs.
Expressing China’s willingness to enhance high-quality bilateral cooperation, Xi said the two sides should strengthen cutting-edge cooperation in the digital economy, green economy, blue economy, and artificial intelligence and strengthen the integrated development of the industrial chain, supply chain, value chain, data chain and talent chain.
Malaysia was one of the earliest supporters of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The two countries signed a BRI memorandum of understanding in 2017 and have since reaped fruitful outcomes such as the “Two Countries, Twin Parks” program and the East Coast Rail Link.
