KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Bilateral ties and cooperation between Malaysia and China have achieved new progress in 2018 with increasing bilateral trade and Chinese tourist arrivals, a Malaysian government envoy said Monday.

The two countries mark the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year.

The value of bilateral trade reached a record high of 108.6 billion U.S. dollars last year while the number of tourist arrivals from China to Malaysia increased by nearly 30 percent to just short of 3 million, Malaysian government's special envoy to China Tan Kok Wai said in his speech during the Malaysia-China Business Council Chinese New Year luncheon.

"Chinese tourists who visited Malaysia in 2018 had increased by 29 percent, achieving a record of 2.94 million visitors, surpassing 2.28 million visitors in the entire of 2017," he said.

"We shall let the numbers do the talking in proving how Malaysia-China relations are growing deeper, better and stronger," said Tan, who is also chairman of the Malaysia-China Business Council.

In his speech, Malaysia's Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said China has proved that its development is peaceful, with good foreign polices that would benefit its neighbors.

"The good relations between Malaysia and China will be continued and strengthened," he said, adding that his country will continue supporting the Belt and Road Initiative.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian told the event that the bilateral cooperation had produced bountiful results and set the relationship as a shining example of win-win cooperation based on mutual trust and mutual respect.

China has been Malaysia's largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years in 2018, and will most likely remain as the largest foreign investor in Malaysia's manufacturing sector for the third consecutive year, he said, adding that China was the largest source of foreign tourists outside the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) for the past seven years.

Bai also pointed to investments in three Malaysian states namely XSD green paper industry park in Kedah, Maxtrek tyre manufacturing plant in Pahang and the Wen'an steel plant in Sarawak, as examples that China is still investing heavily in the country.