KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s relations with China and the United States (US) have continued to show positive developments in the economic, defence, manufacturing and cyber security fields, said Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Kamarudin Jaffar .
He said Malaysia had always taken the initiative to maintain good relations with China and the US through bilateral and multilateral relations platforms.
“For example, the Foreign Minister (Saifuddin Abdullah) paid an official visit to China recently from Dec 3 to 4, while the US Secretary of State will be visiting Malaysia from tomorrow until Dec 15.
“As for the multilateral platform, Malaysia will continue to adopt the ASEAN Centrality approach to ensure prosperity and security of the region,” he said during the question and answer session at the Dewan Negara (Senate) here.
He said this in reply to a question from Senator Teo Eng Tee @ Teo Kok Chee who wanted to know how Malaysia as a member state of the neutral bloc navigates diplomacy between global superpowers China and the US.
Kamarudin said Malaysia through ASEAN had also participated in the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting, with the US as a member of the G7, on Dec 12.
In summary, he said it has always been Malaysia’s principle to maintain good bilateral relations with all countries.
“Malaysia practices neutrality and will not take sides with any major power in the world, including China and the US in their strategic competition in line with the basic principles of the Non-Aligned Movement,” he said.
— NNN-BERNAMA
