People welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 15, 2025 for a state visit. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday for a state visit to Malaysia, according to the Xinhua News Agency. He was warmly welcomed by Malaysia's Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

In a written statement upon his arrival at the airport, Xi said he expected to take his visit as an opportunity to further deepen the bilateral traditional friendship and strengthen political mutual trust, Xinhua reported.

Xi called on the two sides to promote cooperation in modernization endeavors, jointly enhance exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations, and continuously elevate the building of a China-Malaysia community with a shared future to new heights.

The Chinese president expressed hope that, with the joint efforts of China and Malaysia, his visit will yield fruitful outcomes, opening a new historic chapter of good-neighborly friendship and mutual benefit between the two countries, and ushering in a new "Golden 50 Years" for bilateral relations, according to Xinhua. 

The warm welcome for the Chinese President's arrival was visible on several main streets of Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. On the way from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to downtown Kuala Lumpur, several giant electronic screens displaying a picture of the Chinese President, the national flags of the two countries, and a message: "Welcome H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China, in conjunction with the state visit to Malaysia." 

Similar but smaller screens were also put on some streets of Malaysian capital. At a section of the Jalan Tun Razak, one of the main roads in Kuala Lumpur, China's five-starred red flag, alongside the Malaysian national flag, was flying high over heavy traffic. 

In interviews with the Global Times, some local residents also showed great anticipation for the state visit.  "This is very important for Malaysia," a local driver surnamed Zain told the Global Times on Tuesday, noting that he has never seen such a scale of arrangement for foreign leaders before. Asked why the visit is important for Malaysia, Zain said "China has many projects in Malaysia. I hope that the two countries will have more and more such projects."

The expectation for greater cooperation between China and Malaysia was also palpable in dialogues with local residents. On Tuesday morning, construction work was in full swing at the Gombak station of the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) in Malaysia, which is a landmark project of the Belt and Road Initiative jointly built by China and Malaysia. With machines roaring constantly and a crane moving periodically, the bustling scene at the site offered a snapshot of the vitality of China-Malaysia bilateral cooperation. 

Ridzuan, a Malaysian technical engineer at China Communications Construction Co working at the ECRL's Gombak station project, said that the project has not only brought employment opportunities to local people, but will also bring greater convenience after completion.

"I hope that the cooperation between China and Malaysia will be for long until maybe one year, two years, three years, or up to ten years, or up to even one century, because this cooperation actually brings a lot of benefits for the people of Malaysia and also the people of China," Ridzuan told the Global Times on Tuesday.