ANKARA

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Beijing on Thursday to encourage strengthening strategic ties and enhancing mutual political trust to support their core interests.

“China and Malaysia are not only good neighbors across the sea, but also good friends who share common aspirations and good partners in pursuit of joint development,“ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hua Chunying wrote on X, quoting Xi.

China, Xi said, is willing to work with Malaysia to deepen and strengthen the building of a China-Malaysia community with a shared future.

Xi indicated that the two countries should deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and promote development in the digital economy, artificial intelligence, new energy and other areas, China Central Television (CCTV) reported.

“I had a very candid discussion with His Majesty (king), and we reached a broad consensus on promoting high-level development of our relations,” Xi told Anwar, referring to a state visit to China by Malaysian King Ibrahim Iskandar in September.

Italian president in China

Italian President Sergio Mattarella arrived Thursday in Beijing to start a visit until Nov. 12, state media reported.

The visit is expected to promote pragmatic cooperation between the two countries in cultural and technological communications as well as people-to-people exchanges to facilitate the development of relations, according to Chinese experts.