Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), met in Kuala Lumpur Wednesday with former Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mahathir Bin Mohamad.

During the meeting, Jia said the all-round, rapid growth of China-Malaysia links is inseparable from the long-term effort that Mahathir made to advance friendship between the two countries.

Jia expressed appreciation on Mahathir's great contributions to the expansion of bilateral links and hoped Mahathir continues to pay attention to and support China-Malaysia friendship.

On his part, Mahathir said exchange of visits by leaders of the two countries is very important and helps deepen bilateral links and mutually beneficial cooperation. He said China has been conducting exchanges with Malaysia for more than 1,000 years without occupying any bit of Malaysia's territorial land.

Noting that the rapid growth of China's economy has propelled sustained development of Southeast Asian countries, Mahathir said both history and current reality prove that China's development is an important opportunity for, rather than a threat to all countries in Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, Mahathir expressed willingness to continue to work for promoting Malaysia-China friendship.