Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing this morning for his state visits to Indonesia and Malaysia and to attend the 21st Leaders’ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec).

Xi was invited by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysia’s Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah respectively for the state visits, Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi is scheduled to pay his first official visit to Indonesia from Oct 2 to 3 and visit Malaysia from Oct 4 to 5, then attend the 21st Economic Leaders’ Meeting of the Apec forum and meet with global leaders in Bali, Indonesia from Oct 6 to 8, after taking over as China’s president in March.

Xi is accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, member of the political bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee Li Zhanshu, and State Councillor Yang Jiechi.

The news agency reported that in Malaysia, Xi would meet Tuanku Abdul Halim and hold talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and attend a high-level forum on economic cooperation.

Earlier, Xinhua quoted Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin as saying that during the visit, China would sign a series of documents on cooperation in trade, aerospace, science and fisheries with Indonesia and Malaysia.

“President Xi will have an in-depth exchange with leaders of the two countries on furthering China-Asean relations and on other major regional and international issues,” Liu said.

Bilateral trade between China and Malaysia hit US$94.8 billion in 2012, with China being the biggest trade partner of Malaysia for four consecutive years and Malaysia being the biggest trade partner of China in the Asean region for the past five years, he said.

Liu emphasised that the Qinzhou Industrial Park (QIP) and Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park (MCKIP) in Pahang had made important progress, setting a precedent for China and friendly countries to launch industrial parks.

Cooperation between China-Asean during the past decade had witnessed a  remarkable increase in bilateral trade, which surged from US$54.77 billion in 2002 to US$400.1 billion in 2012, with an annual growth rate of 22 percent.

- Bernama