Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Malaysian Speaker of the House of Representatives Pandikar Amin Mulia on Tuesday, saying that China attaches great importance to its friendly relationship with Malaysia.

"The Chinese Government regards the development of China-Malaysia ties as an important part of China's neighborhood diplomacy," Xi said during the meeting with Pandikar at the Great Hall of the People.

Xi proposed the two sides take the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to do a "top-down design" of the bilateral ties and blueprint reciprocal cooperation in various areas to boost the countries' partnership.

The president said China pays great attention to good-neighborly relations. He reiterated the country's neighborhood diplomacy concept featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, advocacy for common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security in Asia, as well as its proposal to forge a closer China-ASEAN community of shared destiny and initiative for the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road.

The Chinese leader said the fact that he tabled these proposals shows the Chinese side's willingness to pursue common development with neighboring countries.

According to Xi, China will back Malaysia as it takes the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next year and stands ready to work with all countries concerned to boost the China-ASEAN relationship.

Xi also said China hopes Malaysia will continue to coordinate with relevant countries to search for the missing flight MH370.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, carrying 239 people,including 154 Chinese, disappeared on March 8 after leaving Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing. Despite a multinational search and rescue effort -- the largest and most expensive marine search ever undertaken -- no confirmed flight debris or crash site has been found.

During the meeting, Pandikar conveyed the greetings of Malaysian Supreme Head of State Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah and Prime Minister Najib Razak to Xi, pledging that the House of Representatives will endorse the consensus reached between the Malaysian and Chinese governments and contribute to the friendship between the two nations.

Pandikar and his delegation are visiting China from June 22 to 28 at the invitation of top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang.

On Tuesday afternoon, Zhang and Pandikar held talks and they vowed to promote the two countries' parliamentary cooperation.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said the NPC is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation with the Malaysian parliament to increase sharing of experiences on national governance, democracy and rule by law.

Pandikar agreed with Zhang by saying the Malaysian parliament will enhance exchanges and cooperation with the NPC.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2014)