Malaysia looks forward to Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming state visit, aiming to enhance cooperation with China in comprehensive areas from people-to-people exchanges to economy and trade, according to Malaysian experts.
Chinese foreign ministry said that Xi will pay a state visit to Vietnam from April 14 to 15, and will pay state visits to Malaysia and Cambodia from April 15 to 18.
Ahead of Xi's visit, Malaysia held the ASEAN-China Media and Think Tank Forum in capital city of Kuala Lumpur on Friday, bringing together representatives of major media and think tanks from the 10 ASEAN countries and China to discuss and promote common development.
As the ASEAN chairman this year, Malaysia aims to foster greater collaboration and economic integration with the bloc's biggest trading partner -- China, which is also a key focus of the forum.
"It provides a timely opportunity to strengthen people-to-people ties, ensuring that our cooperation is not merely transactional, but built upon a foundation of mutual trust, cultural affinity and shared aspirations," said Fadillah Yusof, Malaysia's deputy prime minister while addressing the event.
Malaysian experts said Xi's visit serves as a good opportunity for both sides to discuss issues of common interests and concerns, and seek to expand cooperation in fields including technology and trade.
"The entire nation is awaiting the arrival of President Xi Jinping. It is a very timely visit from the perspective of Malaysians. When we talk about a shared future, we have a lot of things in common. We have the shared interests as well as the common challenges that we need to grapple with together," said Ong Tee Keat, president of the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific.
"President Xi's visit to Malaysia, in that regard, sets the tone for diplomatic and economic strengthening and cooperation, and we can see further collaboration emerging in not just the semiconductor space, but also trade agreements like RCEP, the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as areas of artificial intelligence," said Danial Rahman, CEO of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute.
"I think President Xi's visit to Malaysia acquires even higher level of significance as those countries, for example, Malaysia and China, which would like to continue to embrace free trade, would perhaps like to see even closer economic interactions among themselves," said Oh Ei Sun, principal advisor of the Pacific Research Center.
Malaysian experts share expectations on Chinese President Xi's upcoming state visit
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Tuesday warned against "extreme optimism or pessimism" in the country about the indirect talks between Iran and the United States.
He made the remarks at a meeting with senior government officials in Iran's capital Tehran while pointing to the talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff on Iran’s nuclear program and removing sanctions, the first round of which was held in the Omani capital Muscat on Saturday, according to a statement published on his website on Tuesday.
"We should not be extremely optimistic or extremely pessimistic about these talks," he said, adding that the negotiations may or may not yield results.
He stressed, "We are, of course, very distrustful of the other side. However, we are optimistic about our capabilities."
The Iranian leader also cautioned against "tying the country's affairs to the talks," emphasizing that activities in industrial, economic, construction, and cultural sectors, as well as the implementation of major projects, should proceed uninterrupted, as they are unrelated to the talks in Oman.
The second round of the indirect talks between Iran and the United States is scheduled to be held on this coming Saturday in Muscat.
According to U.S. media reports on Tuesday, the second aircraft carrier strike group deployed by the U.S. military in the Middle East had arrived in waters near Yemen, ahead of the second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran.
Satellite images show that the U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson is currently positioned near Socotra Island off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, according to the U.S. media reports.
Accompanying it are a cruiser and two destroyers, thus forming a dual U.S. carrier strike group in the region.
The U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, declined to provide details about the mission of this carrier strike group.
The latest talks between Iran and the Untied States were proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened Iran with bombing and secondary tariffs if Iran did not come to an agreement with the United States over its nuclear program.
Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, with six major countries -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States -- in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
However, the United States withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions, prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments. Efforts to revive the nuclear deal have not achieved substantial progress.
Iranian leader warns against extreme optimism, pessimism about talks with US
