Senior military officials of China and Malaysia have agreed the two countries' military ties should be conducive to the stability in the South China Sea.
Fang Fenghui, chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), met with Zulkifeli Mohd. Zin, chief of defense force of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF), on Sunday on the sideline of the sixth Xiangshan Forum, a high-level security forum gathering around 500 defense officials and scholars to discuss Asia-Pacific security cooperation.
Fang said the PLA is willing to carry out cooperation with the MAF in high-level visits, defense and security consultation, joint military exercise, visits by both sides' naval vessels, personnel training, and academic institution exchanges.
The two sides should properly deal with the South China Sea issue, jointly enhance risk management and make efforts to safeguard peace and stability of the region, he said.
Zulkifeli said Malaysia is willing to enhance the cooperation in maritime security and counter-terrorism cooperation, and make contribution to the stability in the South China Sea.
He lauded the success of the two countries' first joint military exercise on Sept. 18-22, which covered joint escort, joint search and rescue, hijacked vessel rescue, humanitarian rescue and disaster relief.
