Friendship Forever China - Malaysia----Chinese Ambassador H.E. Bai Tian publishes the signed article on Malaysian mainstream media

　2019年5月31日，驻马来西亚大使白天在马来西亚主流媒体发表署名文章《我们是永远的朋友》，全文如下：

　　友谊在中国文化中占据非常重要的地位。孔子在《论语》的开篇就说：“有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎？”。45年前的今天，有一位马来西亚朋友远道而来，带着友好情谊访问中国。他就是马来西亚第二任总理敦·拉扎克先生。正是在这次访问期间，中马两国正式建立了外交关系，开启了两个古老文明友好交往的新纪元。45年来，在中马历代领导人和两国人民的共同努力下，中马友好关系实现跨越式发展，各领域合作取得丰硕成果，给两国人民带来了巨大的实实在在的共同利益。

Friendship plays a very important role in Chinese culture. In the Analects of Confucius, Master said in the first chapter: "it is always a pleasure to greet a friend from afar". 45 years ago, a Malaysian friend came from afar and visiting China, he was the second prime minister of Malaysia, Tun Haji Abdul Razak Dato'Hussein. It was during this visit that China and Malaysia officially established diplomatic relations and ushered in a new era of friendly exchanges between two ancient civilizations.

Over the past 45 years, with the joint efforts of the leaders of the successive generations of China and Malaysia, and the peoples of two countries, China-Malaysia friendly relations have achieved leap-forward development and fruitful results of cooperation in various fields, bringing huge tangible common interests to the peoples of China and Malaysia.

　　45年前，两国官方交往和合作机制刚刚起步，现在，各层级友好交流全面开花。两国之间几乎年年都有高层互动，双方在外交、经贸、农业、防务、安全等各领域都建立起了高级别的对话合作机制。马哈蒂尔总理本人在两次任内已9次访华。特别是在今年中马建交45周年之际，马哈蒂尔总理赴华出席第二届“一带一路”国际合作高峰论坛，同中国国家领导人一道，为中马合作描绘了新的宏伟蓝图。

45 years ago, the official exchanges and cooperation mechanisms between the two countries were just a start. Now, friendly exchanges at all levels have blossomed.

The two countries have high-level exchange visits almost every year. The two sides have established dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in various fields such as diplomacy, economy, trade, agriculture, defense, and security.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has visited China together 9 times during his two term as the Prime Minister of Malaysia. On the occasion of 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia this year, Tun Mahathir visited China to attend the Second"Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRFIC)".On the sidelines, Tun Mahathir had meetings with the Chinese national leaders and exchanged views on the new grand blueprint for China-Malaysia cooperation.

　　45年前，中马双边贸易总额只有 1.59 亿美元，到 2018年已增至 1086亿美元，增长了600多倍。中国已连续10年成为马来西亚最大的贸易伙伴国，连续3年成为马来西亚制造业投资最大外资来源国。两国双园建设顺利推进，东海岸铁路、马来西亚城等项目再度启航，吉利宝腾、阿里巴巴马来西亚数字自由贸易区等合作如火如荼。在中资企业的组织下，约19000人次的马来西亚员工近年来接受了技术培训，而这一培训规模今后还会不断扩大。

45 years ago, the bilateral trade volume between China and Malaysia was only 159 million US dollars. By 2018, it has surged to 108.6 billion US dollars, increasing by more than 600 times.

China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for ten consecutive years and has been the largest source of foreign investment in Malaysia's manufacturing industry for three consecutive years.

"The Two Countries, Twin Parks project" has progressed smoothly, and projects such as the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and Bandar Malaysia have revived, while cooperation such as Geely Proton and Alibaba Malaysia Digital Free Trade Zone are on going with full steam ahead. With the support of Chinese enterprises in Malaysia, about 19,000 Malaysian employees have received technical training in recent years, and the scale of this kind of training will continue to expand in the future.