On May 31, 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Malaysian Supreme Head of State Mizan Zainal Abidin exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In his message, President Hu said that Malaysia is the first country among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to start diplomatic relations with China 35 years ago. The past 35 years have witnessed an all-round development of the China-Malaysia relations, constant strengthening of their mutual political trust and their fruitful cooperation in all fields and sound cooperation in regional and international affairs, Hu said. The development of the ties has brought tangible benefits to the two peoples and contributed to regional peace and progress, he added. The economies of China and Malaysia, as close neighbors, are complementary in nature and their peoples friendly to each other. The potentials for the development of their links are therefore huge and the prospect for their future cooperation is broad, Hu said. China is ready to work with Malaysia to vigorously expand their strategic cooperation and strengthen their coordination within the multilateral frameworks in a bid to bring their good-neighborly cooperative relations to a new height, Hu said.

Mizan said in the message that Malaysia was pleased to see the rapid development of the relations between the two countries in various fields. The Malaysian side firmly believed that the strong friendly ties with China would constantly improve, which he said will result in a bigger contribution to prosperity, security and peace in the region and beyond.

On the same day, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi also exchanged congratulatory messages with their Malaysian counterparts Najib Tun Razak and Anifah Aman respectively.