Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian’s Regular Press Conference on April 11, 2025:

CCTV: You just announced President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Viet Nam, Malaysia, and Cambodia, which is his first overseas visit this year. Could you share with us the program and China’s expectation of growing its relations with Viet Nam, Malaysia and Cambodia?

Lin Jian: Neighboring countries are China’s priority in its diplomacy. China and Southeast Asian countries are good neighbors, good friends and good partners with a shared future. The central conference on work related to neighboring countries was successfully convened recently. The meeting made it very clear that China will continue to follow the principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness in its neighborhood diplomacy, engage in friendly cooperation, enhance mutual understanding and trust and jointly pursue development and revitalization with its neighbors. The upcoming visit will be President Xi’s first overseas trip this year, and bears major importance for China’s relations with the three countries and ASEAN as a whole. It will also inject new impetus into the peace and development of the region and the world.

China and Viet Nam are socialist friends and neighbors. Both countries are advancing the cause of reform and transformation that suit their own national conditions and strengthening solidarity and cooperation serves the shared interests of both sides. At the end of 2023, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping paid a historic visit to Viet Nam, guiding our bilateral relations to open up a new chapter of a China-Viet Nam community with a shared future. Since last year, General Secretary Xi Jinping and General Secretary To Lam have maintained strategic communication. There have been close exchanges between various departments and localities and fruitful outcomes in cooperation in various fields between both sides, which delivers tangibly for the two peoples.

This visit comes on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Viet Nam, which presents a historic opportunity to build on what has been achieved and take the relationship into the next chapter. During the visit, General Secretary Xi Jinping will hold talks with General Secretary To Lam, meet with Viet Nam’s President Luong Cuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man. Taking this visit as an opportunity, China looks forward to working with Viet Nam to consolidate our traditional friendship as comrades and brothers, enhance strategic mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation, work for sustained and steady progress in the building of the China-Viet Nam community with a shared future and make greater contributions to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.

China and Malaysia are important developing countries and emerging economies in the Asia-Pacific. In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the leaders of the two countries, the relationship between China and Malaysia has maintained high-level development. Both sides have had frequent high-level interactions, continued to consolidate political mutual trust, achieved fruitful outcomes in practical cooperation, conducted various cultural and people-to-people exchanges and engaged in close and effective multilateral coordination, setting an example of mutual understanding and win-win cooperation between neighboring countries. In 2023, the two countries announced the decision to build a China-Malaysia community with a shared future and open up a new chapter in the bilateral relations.

This visit will be President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Malaysia in 12 years, which marks an important milestone in promoting the upgrading of the relations between China and Malaysia. During the visit, President Xi Jinping will meet with King Sultan Ibrahim and hold talks with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Through this visit, China hopes to further step up political and security cooperation,further align development interests, have closer cultural exchanges and mutual learning, strengthen coordination on regional and international issues, move the bilateral relations towards the direction of building a high-level strategic China-Malaysia community with a shared future and make new contributions to the strength through unity of the Global South and peace and stability in the region.

Cambodia is China’s traditionally friendly neighbor and iron-clad friend. Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and the leader of Cambodia, the building of the China-Cambodia community with a shared future has entered a new era featuring high quality, high level and high standard. In recent years, China and Cambodia have continued to deepen strategic mutual trust, enrich the “Diamond Hexagon” cooperation framework, make steady progress in the building of the Industrial Development Corridor and the “Fish and Rice Corridor”, achieve fruitful outcomes in cooperation across the board, and all this delivers tangibly for the two peoples.

This will be President Xi Jinping’s first visit to Cambodia in nine years. During the visit, President Xi will meet with King Norodom Sihamoni and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk respectively, meet with President of the Cambodian People’s Party and President of the Senate Samdech Techo Hun Sen and hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Manet. The two sides will have discussions on the elevation and new characterization of the bilateral relations and have an in-depth exchange of views on five areas including political mutual trust, mutually beneficial cooperation, security, cultural and people-to-people exchanges and strategic coordination. We believe that President Xi’s visit will enrich the China-Cambodia community with a shared future with new features of the new era and enable the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to produce more positive outcomes and bring more benefits to the two peoples.