NAJIB PLEDGES TO ENHANCE MALAYSIA-CHINA TIES

From Yong Soo Heong

BEIJING, June 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak
pledged Wednesday that as the son of Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, who established
diplomatic relations with China 35 years ago, he was determined to take Kuala
Lumpur-Beijing relations to greater heights.

He said the cordial relations between Malaysia and China over the years had
been based on trust between the leaders of both countries.

"This bond of friendship between Malaysia and China is based on the word
trust.
If my late father trusted the Chinese leaders (then), I have the same respect
with regard to the current leaders (of China)," he said in his citation after
receiving an honorary doctorate in international relations from the Beijing
Foreign Studies University (BFSU), here.

Najib said that when his father and Malaysia's second prime minister made
the historic visit to China in 1974, he was unable to come along as he was a
university student then.

However, he said, he still remembered vividly a meaningful sentence which
his father had used then, which was "I can work with (Prime Minister) Zhou Enlai
and I have the greatest respect for him."

Najib said that when his father uttered that sentence it reflected that the
relations between the two countries must be based on trust.

"If we have the trust, everything can be possible," he said.

Najib, who was welcomed by BFSU students beating the "kompang" and carrying
"bunga mangga", also mentioned the Chinese proverb "A journey of a thousand
miles begins with the first step" and said that when his father took the bold
step to initiate diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China, he might not
have thought that his first step or two would have reached this stage in the
bilateral ties.

"But it took courage to make that decision (to establish diplomatic
relations) and it was the right decision," the prime minister said.

He said the journey had reached a stage whereby even his father or Zhou
could
not have envisioned the world of today 35 years ago.

"Who could have imagined a China of 35 years ago with capital Beijing
congested
with bicycles today packed with modern and sophisticated automobiles? At that
time, no one in China wore lounge suits. Everyone wore the grey 'Mao' suits in
emulating leader Mao Zedong. Today, many Chinese are wearing lounge suits with
the cutting no different from Zegna or Cerruti," he said.

He said that today China was regarded as an economic powerhouse and he felt
that no one could deny that in the efforts towards global economic recovery, the
role of China was most important.

Najib also referred to another Chinese proverb, "When you drink the water,
think of the person who dug the well".

However, he said he would modify the proverb and say that the responsibility
of
the Malaysian and Chinese leaders would be to dig more wells so that no well ran
dry and water would flow for the well-being of both Malaysia and China.

Najib said: "We began as friends and the friendship between the Malay world
and
the Chinese world is not new. It began during the era of the Ming dynasty when
fleet commander Zheng He visited Melaka with 35,000 troops and 300 vessels."

He said if an armada of that size had desired to capture Melaka then, it
would
have been achieved easily.

"However, China, the Chinese civilisation had no such intention. Instead, it
extended a hand of friendship. For that reason, all this while, even if there
were people who said China is a threat, Malaysia does not consider China a
threat because Malaysia had evaluated several accounts of China from about 600
years ago," he said.

Najib described the bestowing of the honorary doctorate on him as a symbol
of
the closeness of friendship between Malaysia and China.

"I am most touched by this honour from a leading university and I believe
this
relationship will remain beneficial in the future," he said.

Najib also acknowledged the 60 students from China at the BFSU who are
studying Bahasa Melayu and the 36 students from Malaysia there who are studying
Mandarin.

He said he hoped that the number of Malaysian students, especially Malay
students, at BFSU would double next year.

Najib said he would ask his youngest child who was studying Mandarin at the
Georgetown University in Washington DC to attend BFSU for a month or two for the
same purpose.

He said he felt that "if we study languages, we will understand the
civilisations of both nations and when we understand both civilisations, the
relations will be more cordial and tangible".

Najib said that with these efforts, the journey which began with the first
step
35 years ago would be a journey that promises a thousand and one productive
possibilities.

"Let this doctorate bestowed upon me be an expression of the friendship from
the government and people of China. I look to working closely with BFSU, with
the Chinese leaders. Let us work together and continue this journey that was
started 35 years ago."

Najib said the relations between Malaysia and China were deep-rooted and
personal for him and that was the reason his wife, Rosmah Mansor, and
his mother, Tun Rahah Mohamed Noah, had also come on the official visit.

Earlier, Professor Hao Ping, China's deputy education minister who is BFSU
president, acknowledged Najib's contributions to BFSU from the time he was the
education minister and said it was the prime minister's fourth visit to the
university.

Also present at the ceremony were Gu Xiu Lian, deputy chairman of the
Standing Committee of the 10th National People’s Congress and president of the
China-Asean Association, Malaysian Minister of Higher Education
Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, International Trade
and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed, Transport Minister Ong
Tee Keat and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Senator Dr Koh
Tsu Koon as well as Malaysian business leaders and entrepreneurs.

At the close of the ceremony, 40 BFSU Malay Studies students sang the "Jalur
Gemilang" while the Malaysian students at the BFSU sand the "Beijing Hwanying
Nie" or "Beijing Welcomes You".



-- BERNAMA