Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has pledged to make efforts to strengthen the cooperation among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and China in a bid to promote trade exchanges and enhance friendship.
The Malaysian prime minister made the pledge in an interview with China Media Group (CMG) and Malaysian media outlet Astro Awani in Putrajaya, a city and a federal territory of Malaysia located in west-central Peninsular Malaysia, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent state visit to Malaysia from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Malaysia, the current rotating chair of the ASEAN, has made the decision to invite representatives from China and Arab Gulf states to the the ASEAN summit in May.
Ibrahim highlighted the joint summit of China, the ASEAN and the GCC as an opportunity to promote trilateral trade and investment.
"The ASEAN has good relations with countries such as the United States and Japan. When we first discussed strengthening cooperation with the Gulf countries, they chose Kuala Lumpur as the host city. At that time, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud told me that in another two years, when Malaysia becomes the rotating chair of the ASEAN, they would be very willing to come to Kuala Lumpur to attend the ASEAN-GCC Summit as well as the ASEAN Plus and the GCC summit. At that time, I believed that these countries also wanted to enhance cooperation with China in areas of trade, investment and AI. We could take this opportunity to strengthen relations with the Gulf countries and China, promote trade exchanges and enhance friendship," said the prime minister.
Malaysian PM pledges to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN, GCC, China
Malaysian PM pledges to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN, GCC, China
The Sanya branch of the Peking University (PKU) Hospital of Stomatology based in the tourist resort city of Sanya in south China's tropical Hainan Province -- the country's first national-level regional dental specialty center -- officially opened on Saturday, providing local residents and tourists with access to top-tier dental care without leaving Hainan.
As a key city in the Hainan Free Trade Port and a hub for both tourism and wellness, Sanya has seen rising demand for oral healthcare. Local resources, however, have long been strained.
The newly launched hospital aims to ease the situation. Both its management and medical teams come directly from the main campus of the PKU Hospita of Stomatology in Beijing, ensuring seamless integration and unified standards across diagnoses, treatment, and service quality. The facility comprises of nine specialized buildings, including an emergency outpatient complex and an international medical services building, covering all sub-specialties in dental medicine.
"Since the official start of Hainan Free Trade Port's island-wide special customs operations [on December 18, 2025], the very first zero-tariff items entering the region were advanced dental equipment for our hospital. This enables a wide range of patients in the Hainan region to access the world's latest dental treatment equipment and technology more quickly," said Deng Xuliang, president of the PKU Hospital of Stomatology.
Looking ahead, the main campus of the PKU Hospital of Stomatology will collaborate with medical universities in Hainan to jointly train more specialized professionals for grassroots-level healthcare institutions across the region. Through technical mentorship and integrated training programs, the initiative aims to leverage the policy advantages of the free trade port to build a high-level, comprehensive platform that integrates medical services, education, research, public health, and healthcare management, with particular attention on international patient services and comfort-focused treatment.
"The operation of medical care plus health and wellness programs and of medical care plus tourism projects has jointly contributed to the formation of an internationalized medical care platform in Sanya, which presents a major opportunity for both Sanya and the rest of Hainan, especially as the free trade port enters full operation, making more duty-free medicines and medical devices available locally," said Hu Yulei, director of the Sanya Municipal Health Commission.
Hainan's Sanya opens first national dental specialty center
