BEIJING, May 28  -- Having withstood the test of time amid ever-changing international situation, the bilateral relations between China and Malaysia have maintained steady and healthy development and will usher in a better tomorrow, said former Chinese ambassador to Malaysia Wang Chungui on Tuesday.

During a written interview with Xinhuanet, he said, the two countries established diplomatic relations on May 31, 1974 when then Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak, the father of current Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak visited China.

He signed "the Joint Communique” with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai during the former’s historical “ice-breaking journey” to China against background of cold war, making Malaysia the first ASEAN member country to formalize relations with China.

On the occasion of 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib is paying an official visit to China from May 27 to June 1.

In the written interview, ambassador Wang said that Malaysia and China have witnessed substantial progress in their relations over the last 40 years and shared profound traditional friendship. In the past ten years in particular the bilateral ties have experienced a “golden decade” characterized by comprehensive, sound and rapid development.

Wang, as former Chinese ambassador to China from 2004 to 2006, defined the feature of China-Malaysia relations as political equality and mutual trust, economic win-win cooperation, mutual benefit and inclusive cultural exchanges.

China and Malaysia moved to a new level of bilateral cooperation by lifting their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit last year.

On economic front, Wang expounded that China has been the largest trading partner of Malaysia globally for five consecutive years, with bilateral trade volume reaching 106.08 billion U.S. dollars last year.

Malaysia is China’s biggest trading partner among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and becomes the third country to have an annual trade volume with China at 100 billion dollars, after Japan and South Korea.

The two sides have seen frequent people-to-people exchanges as about three million trips made last year, Wang added.

On international affairs, Wang noted that the two sides support and cooperate with each other and have common understanding and strategic interests on many international and regional issues.

Two countries both advocate that disputes between nations should be solved through peaceful means, while strongly opposing the interference of a nation’s domestic affairs by any a foreign country under the pretext of human rights and objecting to reinforcing military alliance.

“Many Malaysian friends who firmly believe that China’s development will pose no threat to other countries have rebutted ‘China threat theory’ on many occasions,” Wang stressed.

On questions about ASEAN integration, Wang added that China will fully cooperate with Malaysia in taking the rotating chair of ASEAN next year and jointly making efforts to upgrade the China ASEAN Free Trade Area, push forward comprehensive regional economic cooperative partnership, and construct the “21st Century Marine Silk Road”, so as to work together to promote east Asia cooperation.

On the prospect of bilateral relations, Wang said, the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership is hard-earned and should be treasured by both peoples. He believed that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib’s China visit will give a further boost to the already close relations between the two countries.