KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Abdul Majid Khan was Malaysia’s ambassador to China from 1999 to 2005 and the retired diplomat is still a regular visitor there.Travel between the two countries is a breeze these days, kudos to the efforts put in by Malaysia and China in increasing people-to-people contact in the past two decades in 35 years of diplomatic relations, he said.

“Before 1990, our ties were largely state-to-state but bilateral relations were broadened to focus on people-to-people contact since then,” Abdul Majid told Bernama in an interview ahead of a visit by China President Hu Jintao.

Hu arrives tomorrow for a two-day visit, the first by a Chinese head of state in 15 years.

Abdul Majid is president of the Malaysia-China Friendship Association, a non-governmental organisation started in 1992 to enhance people and business ties with China.

He is also an executive council member of the Malaysia-China Business Council, headed by Tun Musa Hitam, which is seeking to encourage trade and cooperation between small and medium enterprises.

“I think the policies of the two countries have resulted in a very dramatic surge in contact between the peoples from the two countries, just look at business, tourism, airlines, sports, business and the cultural exchanges,” said Abdul Majid.

“This speaks of the good rapport between Malaysia and China, from the people to the top leadership,” Abdul Majid said.

The opening of flights between the two countries had played a key role, with the latest, Malaysia’s budget airline AirAsia, opening up more routes to Chinese mainland cities.

“Now several Chinese airlines including Air China and China Southern, even Shenzhen Air, have services to Malaysia. This has led to the tremendous explosion in travel and contact,” he added.

Malaysia was among the first countries which China allowed its nationals to visit when it began opening up, and last year, the number of Chinese tourists reached a new high of almost a million.

“We have both benefited from this.  Malaysia put in a lot of effort to liberalise immigration and visa rules to make it easy for the Chinese to come over,” Abdul Majid said. — Bernama