KUALA LUMPUR — Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian on Friday (May 31) declared his country’s eternal friendship to Malaysia following prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s strong support of its beleaguered handphone maker Huawei.

Mr Bai also said China will always help Malaysia in their common pursuit to develop technologically.

“Over the past 45 years, the China-Malaysia relations have withstood international and domestic vicissitudes, growing from a small sapling of friendship to a towering tree, and its abundant fruits have brought about tangible benefits to the people of two countries,” he said in a seven-page letter posted on the “Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Malaysia” official Facebook page.

Mr Bai was responding to the prime minister’s open support of Huawei during a conference in Tokyo, Japan on Thursday as the Asian tech giant fends of “spying” accusations, levelled mostly by Western nations led by the US.

“China and Malaysia shall be friends forever, and shall help each other to pursue common development in the long run.

“May the friendship between China and Malaysia remain fresh forever,” he added.

Mr Bai said the accomplishments of both his country and Malaysia was because of the strong trust and respect each had for the other.

“No matter how the situation changed, the deepening political trust between the two countries would safeguard the healthy development of bilateral relations,” he said.

Mr Bai noted Dr Mahathir’s recent message to China that Malaysia prospers when China does and that the two countries had much to gain from each other due to their mutual interests.

“I cannot agree more. Malaysia has abundant natural resources, good business environment and high-quality talents, while China is outstanding in capital, production capacity, high technology and broad consumer market.

“Both sides have advantages of their own, demand from each other, and provide opportunities for each other. China has always adhered to and will further carry on the spirit of equality, mutual benefit and win-win results in its cooperation with Malaysia,” he said.

On Thursday, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia will make use of Huawei’s technology as much as possible.

Nikkei Asian Review reported that while countries including Japan and Australia were avoiding the use of Huawei equipment as they introduced new 5G mobile networks, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia had no intention of shunning the Chinese company.

“Huawei’s research is far bigger than Malaysia’s capability,” Dr Mahathir said in the conference hosted by Nikkei.

“We will make use of their technology as much as possible,” he was quoted saying, adding that Huawei had achieved tremendous advancement over American technology. MALAY MAIL