Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today received a courtesy call from Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee member, Li Xi, at Perdana Putra in Putrajaya.

During the 30-minute meeting, Li, who was accompanied by a CPC delegation, and Mahathir discussed trade relations between the two countries as well as strengthening bilateral ties.

Li, who is also the secretary of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, also thanked Mahathir on behalf of China's President Xi Jinping for his stand in the US-China trade war.

He said that under Mahathir’s leadership, Malaysia would progress even further and extended his invitation to the prime minister to visit Guangdong.

With a population of 113 million people, Guangdong province recorded a total of US$1.5 trillion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) last year.

Also present during the meeting were Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, China’s Ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian and Vice Minister of the CPC International Department, Guo Yezhou.

- Bernama