China-Malaysia cooperation can reinforce the storm resilience of Southeast Asia

The warm reception given to President Xi Jinping during his trip to Southeast Asia speaks volumes of the region's readiness to work with China to build a neighborhood community with a shared future.

Wrapping up his two-day state visit to Vietnam on Tuesday where the two sides pledged joint efforts to accelerate the building of a community with a shared future that carries strategic significance through deepening pragmatic cooperation and strengthening mutual trust, President Xi embarked on his state visit to Malaysia the same day.

Like the series of collaboration agreements, plans and initiatives signed during his visit to Vietnam, President Xi's visit to Malaysia, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has produced rich results paving the way for concrete cooperation projects in the digital economy, green development, the blue economy, industrial investment and transport infrastructure construction, and closer strategic coordination on regional and world affairs.

By injecting fresh energy into the traditional friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, Xi's visit has helped elevate the building of a China-Malaysia community with a shared future to a comprehensive strategic partnership at a new height.

And reinforced by the two sides' deep mutual political trust their relations can withstand the test of Washington-fomented tempests.

Southeast Asia learned its lessons from the regional division and instability caused by the previous US administration's speculative "Indo-Pacific" strategy, and it is holding true to its desire to be a harmonious family even in the face of the incumbent US administration's coercion and extortion.

China became ASEAN's largest trading partner in 2009 and ASEAN became China's largest trading partner in 2020. That is not just because of economic reasons. It is also the result of the two sides' willingness to leverage their cultural proximity, geographical closeness, traditional friendship, economic complementarity and common Asian values to form a de facto community with a shared future.

Against this backdrop, as President Xi indicated in his signed articles published on Vietnamese and Malaysian media as well as his interactions with his hosts in Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur, China is calling for ASEAN bolstering its strategic communication and aligning their development strategies with it for the good of the region as a whole.

China is not demanding that its neighbors choose a side, instead it is urging them to remember the past, look to the future and to continue to stand on the right side of history.

That is why Xi is urging Vietnam and Malaysia to work with China to safeguard international fairness and justice and advance open and inclusive development. That message is also likely to be conveyed during his visit to Cambodia, which is the last stop of his trip.

Thanks to the generally healthy and stable development of relations between China and the ASEAN member states, the region has weathered the storms of the times through its unity, and it will weather the destructive typhoon the US administration has conjured up by staying true to that Asian family solidarity.

China and ASEAN pulled together in response to multiple challenges over the past decades, and they should do so again in the face of the fierce headwinds blowing from Washington. These adverse blasts seek to pull them apart and take the vigor out of the region's development, which is the product of their combined efforts and shared commitment.

As President Xi stressed, unity brings strength, and cooperation leads to mutual success. China will work with Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and other ASEAN countries to combat the undercurrents of geopolitical and camp-based confrontation, as well as the countercurrents of unilateralism and protectionism, in keeping with the historical trend of peace and amity that have been the hallmarks of the region's dynamic development.

By jointly building a stronger China-ASEAN community with a shared future, the region can be a bright spot for other countries to steer to amid the gathering gloom emanating from Washington.