President Hu leaves Beijing for state visits, APEC summit

Malaysia is to be the first stop on President Hu Jintao's brief Asian trip.

Over recent years, China and Malaysia have arranged frequent exchanges. China is increasingly important for Malaysia and has become the country's biggest trading partner this year.

Hu Zhengyue, China's Assistant Foreign Minister says Hu Jintao's visit to Malaysia will deepen the strategic cooperation between the two countries and promote a sustainable and healthy bilateral relationship.

"This is the first time for President Hu Jintao to visit to Malaysia and Singapore, and it is also the the first Chinese head of state to visit Malaysia in 15 years. His visit will be an important step in pushing forward the China ASEAN relationship."

The Chinese President is expected to meet with Prime Minister Najib Razak On Wednesday, and sign a series of agreements before visiting the historic enclave of Malacca.

In Singapore, Hu Jintao will exchange views with Singaporean leaders on bilateral, regional and international issues of common concern, and meet local people from all walks of life to discuss the promotion of communication and cooperation between the two countries.

During his visit, the Chinese leader will also attend the 17th APEC economic leaders meeting set for November 14 and 15 in Singapore, along with US President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other leaders from the region.

During the summit, Hu Jintao will explain China's stance on a number of issues including the battle against the international financial crisis, the challenges of climate change, food and energy security and the future development of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC.

He Yafei, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister says China will make joint efforts with all participating countries.

"China hopes the concrete cooperation plans for battling the international financial crisis can be implemented during the summit. We also hope that the summit can speak with a clear voice on the opposition to trade and investment protectionism and support the Doha round. The summit should focus on the development of regional economic integration and the reform of APEC's development, with a goal of making APEC more dynamic."

Since February 2009, Hu Jintao has been on an international charm offensive and visited many countries.

Zhu Feng, professor from the School of International Studies of Peking University says these visits indicate China's willingness to initiate international cooperation and underlined its image of a powerful and responsible country amid the world financial crisis.

"Hu Jintao's speeches during his visits have been very impressive. Basically he has made two main points. The first is to emphasize that the whole world should join hands to tackle the international financial crisis. Hu Jintao is secondly showing China's willingness to shoulder its responsibility on the challenges of climate change, food and energy security."

Da Min, CRI news.