By staff reporter Wang Shuo and intern researcher Julian Gewirtz

(Caijing.com.cn) Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak arrived Tuesday in Beijing to mark the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Malaysia – a relationship affirmed by an agreement signed by his father and Chinese leaders in 1974.

As he prepared for the visit a week earlier, Najib met with editors from 10 leading Chinese news organizations, including Caijing, at his office in Putrajaya. He discussed current economic and diplomatic relations between his country and China, as well as goals for his visit.

Najib emphasized that economic cooperation between the two countries has "increased by leaps and bounds over the years." China is Malaysia's fourth largest trading partner, and bilateral trade reached US$ 39.6 billion last year – up 10 percent from 2007.

"Progress in our bilateral relationship has really gone from strength to strength," Najib said.

A goal for the two countries now "is to deepen that relationship." The global financial crisis is a development that Najib said might allow for this kind of deepening.

Najib

More concretely, the Malaysian prime minister said he hopes he and his counterparts in China will "ensure that there's enough domestic demand in both countries."

"If China, for example, were to ensure that domestic demand is high in China," Najib said, "then it would help the Malaysian economy."

Other goals include attracting more Chinese investment to Malaysia and exploring technologies that China could provide. He also hoped to reaffirm the countries' dual commitment to avoiding protectionism, while improving his personal relations with China's leaders.

Najib dismissed the idea that a territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea, which divides eastern and western Malaysia, is intractable. "The issue of overlapping claims is a very complex one, (but) they are not insurmountable," he said. "I see it not so much as a problem but as a challenge for our two countries and two governments."

The trip to Beijing was Najib's first outside Southeast Asia since taking office in April 2008. He also visited China in 2004 and '05 while serving as Malaysia's deputy prime minister.

His arrival in Beijing comes nearly 35 years to the day after his late father and Malaysia's second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, visited the Chinese capital to sign a joint communiqué on May 31, 1974 that established bilateral ties. Malaysia was the first member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to do so.

Since the signing, many Chinese leaders -- including former leader Deng Xiaoping, former President Jiang Zemin and President Hu Jintao -- have visited Malaysia. Malaysian leaders, in turn, have made multiple trips to China. For example, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad traveled to the mainland seven times.

Najib reaffirmed his belief in the value of strong Sino-Malay relations. He said an essential goal for his trip would be to bring this relationship to "higher levels."

"If that happens," he said, "I'll be most delighted. I'll be the happiest person."