Journalist

: Malaysia-China relationship has been raised to a higher level, evidenced by the fact that Malaysia has become China's biggest trading partner in ASEAN, and soon the two countries will sign the agreement on mutual recognition of academic degrees. What should the two countries do to further enhance their bilateral relationship at present and in the next ten years and in what areas should they strengthen cooperation? Prime Minister Najib once said that future success of Malaysia-China relationship should be based on mutual trust between the two countries. What do you think are the key factors in pushing forward the Malaysia-China relationship?

Wen Jiabao: Before answering your questions, let me recall two major historical events in the history of China-Malaysia relations. The first is that when China was in great difficulty, Malaysia was the first ASEAN member to establish diplomatic relations with China after ASEAN was established. Thirty-seven years ago, the then Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak, father of current Prime Minister Najib, and Premier Zhou Enlai, signed the joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic ties between our two countries. The second is that it was at the proposal of Malaysia 20 years ago that the dialogue process between China and ASEAN was launched. As an ancient Chinese proverb goes, "Forget not the favors that others have done you." We have never forgotten these historical episodes between our two countries.

You talked about the future of China-Malaysia relationship in your questions. I agree with you that mutual trust comes first and foremost in China-Malaysia relations. As an old Chinese maxim goes, "In all human relations, if the two parties are living close to each other, they may form a bond through personal trust. If they are far apart, they should use words to communicate their loyalty."

Mutual trust forms the bedrock of our cooperation, and I believe China-Malaysia cooperation enjoys a bright future. I think the following three areas are the priority areas in China-Malaysia cooperation. First, our two countries need to enhance business cooperation. As you mentioned, Malaysia has become China's biggest trading partner among ASEAN countries. According to Chinese statistics, our two-way trade volume reached US$74.2 billion last year. What we need to do is to sustain the momentum of balanced, coordinated and sustainable growth of trade, and at the same time increase the science and technology content in trade.

Second, we should promote cooperation in science, technology and education. I noticed a couple of days ago that some local Malaysian newspapers had already shown a keen interest in the fact that the two countries will, during my visit to Malaysia, sign the agreement on mutual recognition of academic degrees. So why have those papers paid so much attention to this? I believe it is because exchanges in education, science and technology represent the future of our bilateral relationship. Exchanges between the young people are of particular importance because they carry the historical mission of enhancing the friendship and cooperation between our two countries.

Third, we need to increase mutual investment. That includes those key projects that Malaysia has paid much attention to, such as the Penang Second Bridge and the Sarawat paper pulp mill as well as other cooperation in infrastructural development and key areas. The recent progress we have made in enhancing bilateral cooperation is to strengthen the financial support for our cooperation. I will put forward concrete proposals for better integration of financial cooperation and business cooperation between us. In a word, I believe that through cooperation in these areas, we will open a new page in China-Malaysia relations.