00:00I would like to start by saying a few days before Chinese New Year to all the Chinese in Malaysia and in the world, especially in China.
00:24Happy Chinese New Year!
00:55As you see, the celebration has adequate participation from all communities and all cultures and all regions in the country.
01:07Because we want to ensure that Malaysia remains peaceful and accept the principle, the policy of inclusivity to make sure that every one single Malaysian have a place and proud of this country.
01:29During the Song Dynasty, we have the poet Lu Yu and we can render the verse
01:41Shan Chong Shui Fu, Yi Wu Lu, Liu An Hua Ming, Yu Yi Juan
02:11Endless, we have come to a bright village amid the shade of willows and flowers.
02:22This is a rough and perhaps not very lyrical translation, but I think it captures something of the spirit of our relationship with China.
02:34We have indeed chosen to move beyond all the uncertainties, to embrace a future on a thriving partnership and shared goals.
02:46I remember in my conversations with President Xi Jinping, we exchanged not only on issues of economic relations, trade and investments,
03:01the need to secure peace and to build this friendship based on trust, but one very important and particularly unique feature in this policy,
03:16and vision and espoused by President Xi Jinping, is the issue of civilization.
03:26Not only to ensure that our economic fundamentals are strong, the country must be peaceful and stable, but there is a vision to respect cultures and differences and to honor the true meaning of civilization and the need for civilizational dialogue.
03:52So there are festivities, as you know, that is celebrated by various communities here, and I am also delighted to see that we all embrace those and accept them as part of our Malaysian culture.
04:14So as you see, and we continue to see, cultural performances and a situation where you rejoice, relax, appreciate one another, appreciate the other culture that is sometimes not known or alien to us.
04:34And I thank the Minister of Tourism, Ambassador, because they are also helping to promote tourism to Malaysia, as many Malaysians are also going to China, but because China has a bigger population, so we expect bigger numbers here.
04:55And we have, thank you, Dato' Sri Tiong, we have now broken the record in terms of tourist arrival, particularly from China.
05:25Thank you, thank you very much.
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