Malaysian experts share expectations on Chinese President Xi's upcoming state visit

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

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that the situation in Iran is "under total control" following violence linked to protests that spiked over the weekend.

Addressing foreign diplomats in Tehran, the foreign minister noted that armed terrorist groups had infiltrated the protests, attempting to divert them from their legitimate course. He claimed that evidence has been gathered showing Iranian security forces being shot at, with the aim of causing further casualties. He accused the United States and Israel of exploiting the unrest to interfere in Iran's internal affairs.

Araghchi further stated that the government is closely monitoring developments on the streets, emphasizing that "the situation has come under control." He also affirmed that internet services, curtailed during the unrest, would be restored after coordination with security agencies.

The government has engaged in dialogue with merchants and protest representatives and initiated reforms to address grievances related to price hikes and currency depreciation. Iran has taken a series of actions and measures to respond to the demands of peaceful demonstrators, the foreign minister said.

Earlier on Sunday, Araghchi said that clear evidence links recent riots and vandalism of public facilities in Iran to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. This came after former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned Mossad agents operating on Iran's streets in a social media post. The Iranian foreign minister asserted that police are being attacked by "terrorists" acting under the direction of Israeli operatives, whom Pompeo publicly acknowledged.

The protests initially erupted over a sharp depreciation of the rial and sweeping subsidy reforms. Iranian authorities have blamed the unrest on foreign-linked agents and U.S. sanctions.

Iranian foreign minister says situation "fully under control," accuses Israeli intelligence of stoking unrest