Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	SRI PERDANA, KUALA LUMPUR (K.L) 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	10/12/90 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE OFFICIAL DINNER IN HONOUR OF 
			HIS EXCELLENCY LI PENG, PRIME 
			MINISTER OF THE PEOPLE 




Your Excellency, Prime Minister Li Peng; Madam Zhu Lin; Distinguished
Members of the Delegation;

Ladies and gentlemen.

May I, on behalf of the Government of Malaysia and my wife, welcome Your
Excellency and your wife and your deleg- ation to Malaysia. We are
delighted to have this opportu- nity tonight to express the friendship and
respect which we have for each other as neighbours in the Asian-Pacific
com- munity. I wish you could stay with us longer than the three nights
scheduled. Nevertheless in your short stay we hope that you will be able
to see some significant aspects of the development in Malaysia, the social
and cultural life of our multi-racial society and share an understanding
of our na- tional aspirations.

2. We are a small country which is young in history and young in
development. However we are imbued with an eager- ness to come quickly of
age, through education and stable economic growth. To that end we are
prepared to be diligent and receptive to the experience and knowledge of
the more advanced nations. As no country can live in isolation Malaysia
needs also to develop friendship with neighbouring countries and the world
at large. Our primary objective is to secure peace and Malaysia is willing
to shoulder this re- sponsibility together with the international
community. In this regard, Malaysia shares common ground with the People's
Republic of China.

3. In the last two decades Malaysia, with our strong faith in ASEAN, has
devoted a great deal of effort in strengthen- ing ASEAN. Concomitantly we
continue to promote the concept of a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality
in the region. ASEAN's success in economic development and regional
cooper- ation might not have come about as easily if we had not earned the
cooperation and understanding of big powers like the People's Republic of
China, a close neighbour. We are happy to see China's commitment to the
principles of peaceful co-existence and non-interference in each others
internal affairs often re-affirmed by China. This has been a vital factor
in the building up of confidence between the People's Republic of China
and Malaysia.

Excellency, 

4. Your visit to Malaysia comes at a propitious moment in the historic
relationship of our two countries. It occurs at a time when we have
developed sufficient confidence and trust in each other to enable us to
have a frank exchange of views on current global issues. In this regard I
look for- ward to our meeting tomorrow.

5. The confidence Malaysia has of a China that is commit- ted to the five
principles of Peaceful Co-existence in