SPEECH BY THE HONOURABLE DATO’ SERI ANWAR IBRAHIM PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA AT THE OFFICIAL DINNER IN HONOUR OF HIS EXCELLENCY XI JINPING PRESIDENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
16 APRIL 2025
Assalamualaikum dan Salam Sejahtera.
Ge Wei Lai Bin Da Jia Hao.
His Excellency President Xi Jinping,
A friend, a good neighbor and of course, the President of the People’s Republic of China.
Excellencies, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen,
- It is a profound honour to welcome the President of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Xi Jinping, back to Malaysia. This visit stands as a reaffirmation of a relationship grounded in respect, enriched by history and sustained by a shared sense of purpose.
- Malaysia and China have long stood shoulder to shoulder – in moments of triumph and times of trial – not merely as comprehensive strategic partners, but as steadfast friends. Ours is a relationship forged in understanding and sustained by the enduring belief that we go further when we walk together, not only for ourselves but for the peace and prosperity of our region.
- More than a decade has passed since President Xi’s last visit. The world may have shifted in many ways, but the friendship between Malaysia and China has remained firm and steadfast – renewed through dialogue and affirmed through action.
- China remains our most significant trading partner, its presence felt in the very arteries of our development – from the flow of goods and ideas to the transformation of our energy, infrastructure and innovation.
- Yet the true strength, President Xi, of this relationship lies beyond trade figures or tourist statistics. It rests on a profound understanding – that prosperity, to endure, must be shared; and that trust, once cultivated, must be tended with care, patience and commitment.
- Under your leadership Mr President, China has outlined a series of global initiatives that reflect a distinctive worldview. The Belt and Road Initiative reimagines connectivity not as a network of roads and rails, but as a framework for cooperation. The Global Development Initiative underscores the importance of inclusive progress. The Global Security Initiative calls for peace through dialogue. And the Global Civilization Initiative unprecedented, unique in the leadership of the world today. That initiative offers a timely reminder that respect for difference is not a barrier to harmony, but its precondition.
- President Xi has described as a “community with a shared future for mankind.” Kǒng Fūzǐ (孔夫子), that “Within the four seas, all men are brothers.”
- I’m struggling with this as our Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the King today in his afternoon address tried to use some of Chinese phrases quite successfully.
- With China, we have actualised this axiom in holding together civilizational dialogues such as Islam and Confucianism to strengthen further the bonds of understanding, underscoring the importance of stressing our commonalities in the pursuit of shared values of harmony and prosperity.
- And today, at a time when multilateralism is under tremendous strain – when some nations abandon the principle of shared responsibility and others question long-standing commitments – China’s global initiatives offer a new lease on hope. They look outward, not inward. They speak not of rivalry, but of renewal.
- What we are witnessing today, it’s not an honest reckoning with the imperfections of globalization, but the retreat into economic tribalism. Market access is being weaponized. What was once a multilateral convenient for shared growth now buckles under the weight of arbitrary disruption and unilateral whip.
- In these trying times, the world yearns for steadiness, reliability and the purpose. We see this in China’s conduct. Malaysia acknowledges such steadiness with quiet recognition and is conscious not only of the calm it has brought, but of the hope it may continue to offer.
- As President Xi has graciously reminded us during his previous visit more than a decade ago. In the Malay language, he said “Air dicincang tidak akan putus” or in another tongue “You may cleave the water, yet it remains intact.”
- China is a civilization whose history stretches back over five millennia, a nation that has withstood the tempest of time and emerge time and again not diminished but re-fortified, yet refined. His strength lies not only in the scale of his achievements, but in his capacity to endure, to weather disruption with poise and to respond to uncertainty with purpose.
- There is a Chinese proverb that speaks powerfully in this spirit:
“世上无难事，只怕有心人” (Shì shàng wú nán shì, zhǐ pà yǒu xīn rén)
Thank you for clapping them means you understand.
- There is nothing difficult in the world, only those who lack the will. Amid this turbulence, China has been in rational, strong and reliable partner. Malaysia values this consistency. Malaysia will remain an unwavering and principled friend to China, guided by the wisdom of history and the promise of the future.
- Our foreign policy is shaped by a clear-eyed vision of our interest. We do not simply favour cooperation over confrontation, we embrace it. We do not merely prefer respect over rivalry, we uphold it. And we choose dialogue not simply because it chooses us, but as a cornerstone of lasting peace and prosperity.
- President Xi is known as a capable political leader, as an economist, but more so and prouder profoundly, a great human being with strong, clear vision and understanding civilizational of values.
- I would therefore conclude by philosophical construct. Let it serve as a reminder that history is not written in haste and that through partnership are not built overnight, but overtime with care, courage and dedication.
- May this friendship between Malaysia and China endure – deep as the seas, steady as the stars, and bright with the promise of tomorrow.
Thank you, Xie Xie.
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