The Meaning of the Delicious Durians the King of Malaysia Brought to China

During his recent visit to China, Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim brought a special gift of the famous durian to promote durian diplomacy with the country of a billion people.

Malaysia's specialty durian is popular among Chinese people. (Source: The Star)

Gift on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations

Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim and a high-ranking delegation recently paid a four-day state visit to China (September 19-22). Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a welcoming ceremony and held talks with Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

This is Sultan Ibrahim's first state visit since becoming the 17th King of Malaysia and the first visit to China by a Malaysian King in the past 10 years. The event takes place on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

During the visit, in addition to important agendas, on September 20, Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim presented Chinese President Xi Jinping with two boxes of Musang King durian and the Southeast Asian country's famous black thorn durian when the two met in Beijing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping happily accepted and praised the two Malaysian specialty durian varieties. Malaysian Minister of Housing and Local Government Nga Kor Ming (a member of the delegation) later described the “durian diplomacy” strategy of Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim as very successful.

Previously, during Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit to Malaysia in June, the two sides signed an agreement allowing Malaysia to export fresh durian to the Chinese market from August 2024. Thanks to that, Malaysia has now exported about 400 tons of fresh durian to the Chinese market, and is expected to continue to increase this number to thousands of tons in the last quarter of 2024.

Experts say this event is an opportunity for Beijing to influence and gain Malaysia's support in regional issues, especially when the country will assume the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025. Conversely, this is also an opportunity for Malaysia to continue promoting the expansion of economic cooperation, trade and agricultural exports to the Chinese market, including the implementation of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project within the framework of Belt and Road cooperation between the two countries.

Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a welcoming ceremony for Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar in Beijing on September 20. (Source: THX)

Bring about positive results

During talks with the King of Malaysia, Chinese President Xi Jinping affirmed that Beijing wishes to continue to deepen strategic cooperation with Kuala Lumpur, maintain close exchanges of high-level delegations, and support each other on issues identified as core interests of each side.

China continues to work with Malaysia to effectively implement the economic cooperation model of "two countries, two industrial parks" (Kuantan Industrial Park Malaysia-China and Qinzhou Industrial Park China-Malaysia), effectively implement the ECRL railway project as well as strengthen cooperation in the fields of agriculture, poverty reduction and science and technology development...

Regarding China's expectations for Malaysia during its rotating ASEAN chairmanship in 2025, Xi Jinping stressed that Beijing is willing to strengthen exchanges and coordination with Kuala Lumpur on hot issues to jointly contribute to peace and stability in the region and the world.

In response, Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim affirmed that Kuala Lumpur has always focused on promoting and building a close partnership with China and will continue to do so in the future. Malaysia is willing to cooperate with China to make constructive contributions to maintaining peace and stability in the East Sea, while striving to play an active role in developing the ASEAN-China Strategic Partnership during its ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025.

Researcher Luu Duy Thanh of Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Malaysia pointed out that high-level delegation exchanges have been continuously promoted by China and Malaysia in recent years.

After taking office in November 2022, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has visited China twice in just nine months. Since the beginning of this year, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid has visited China twice. Meanwhile, Chairman of the National People's Congress of China Zhao Leji and Premier Li Qiang also visited Malaysia in May and June, respectively.

Researcher Luu Duy Thanh said that the visit to China by Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim this time has achieved very positive results. In the coming time, the two sides will further strengthen cooperation in all areas of economy, trade and investment.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/y-nghia-nhung-qua-sau-rieng-thom-ngon-ma-quoc-vuong-malaysia-mang-toi-trung-quoc-287832.html