The 4th Chinese National Pole Dance Championship held in Tianjin
Chinese navy commandos debut at 2014 RIMPAC
Guangxi impression: scenic countryside
World's largest aquatic insect found in Sichuan
Ceremony volunteers for Youth Olympics make public appearance
A glimpse of female crew of Liaoning aircraft carrier
Stills from "Dad, where are we going?"
Legless man's happy life
Top ten most beautiful islands in China
Aerial view of Hong Kong
KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 -- Renowned Chinese navigator Zheng He visited Malacca, now a historical city of Malaysia, five times during his seven transoceanic expeditions around the Indian Ocean over 600 years ago, which laid solid foundation for the friendship between the two countries.
Now with China's initiatives to build the Silk Road economic belt and a 21st-century maritime Silk Road, known for short as the Belt and the Road, China and Malaysia see a new opportunity to promote their cooperation in trade and economy.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed said that the Malaysian side is supportive of the incentive to build the Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt, and has been keeping an open mind on it.
"Malaysia is a trading nation and we have a number of sea ports, which doing well, Kuantan, for example, Port Klang. They have already a kind of two-way arrangement between Kuantan Port and Qingzhou Port," he said, adding that he visited Qingzhou Port of China two years ago, which gave a deep impression on him.
"Kuantan of cause is small, but government is spending a lot of money at Kuantan Port for such development. So, Kuantan, Port Klang, Pinang and Johor Port, they are very important links of Maritime Silk Road," he said.
The minister said they are very supportive of this proposal, and will come out with complete program to promote it between the ports in China and Malaysia.
Moreover, he revealed that as the trade volume between China and Malaysia is very huge, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has decided to set up a high level committee chaired by him, to monitor closely the ties between the two countries.
"Not just investment trade, also tourism, culture, agriculture, halal and other issues as well," he said, adding "this is a very important decision made by our PM, twice a year he will chair meetings between Malaysia government officials and those of us involved in promoting closely ties with China."
At the same time, Oh Ei Sun, senior research fellow at Nanyang Technology University of Singapore and former political secretary to the Malaysian prime minister, told Xinhua that the countries in the South East Asia have a very positive attitude towards China's proposal of building the Silk Road economic belt and a 21st- century maritime Silk Road, and hope that China can play a leading role in this process.
He pointed out that the sea transportation between Malaysia, Singapore and China has already been quite busy, however, the infrastructures of the ports in the South East Asia are still not good enough.
"If China can give more support to the South East Asian countries in fields like the construction of port, improvement of logistics, etc., the communications between the two sides will be more convenient," he added.
Blockbuster? No, it’s firefighters’ posters
Special 'gifts' for IT men for Chinese Qixi Festival
Foreign students' colorful life in China
French photographer‘s work 'China 2050' goes viral online
A bite of Halal Food
Dressed in uniforms to marry you
Female soldier in Chinese special force
Zhujiang ambassadors attend lotus lanterns activity
From girly girl to tough special police officer
22-year-old veteran travels around China
Night scenery of pagoda forests
China suffers from hot summer
48 hours after super Typhoon Rammasun
German pianist plays mid-air ‘magic carpet’ show over Munich Airport
China's manned deep-sea submersible conducts dive in Pacific Ocean
Day|Week|Month