Transforming from Acquaintanceship to Integration --A sidelight on the “Qinzhou Day” activities held in Kuantan， Malaysia

Written by Tian Shisheng / Translated by Xu Zhiliang



Transforming from Acquaintanceship to Integration
--A sidelight on the “Qinzhou Day” activities held in Kuantan， Malaysia

Written by Tian Shisheng / Translated by Xu Zhiliang

A pril is a season when everything is full of vitality and vigor. In such a dynamic season of this year， a series of colorful， brilliant， pragmatic and efficient interactive activities under the proposal of “Sister Cities，Two Days” for the 4th anniversary of launching China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park （CMQIP） were held grandly in the beautiful city Kuantan， Pahang， Malaysia as scheduled on April 1-3， 2016.

Attractive and significant activities under “Three Extensions”

Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park （MCKIP） is located in Kuantan， which is the international sister city of Qinzhou， China. In the second half of 2015， an agreement was reached by the municipal government of Qinzhou and the City Council of Kuantan: The interactive exchange activities concerning “Sister Cities， Two Days” will be held in turn every year since 2016， with the aim of enhancing international exchanges and cooperation between Qinzhou and Kuantan. Under this backdrop， numerous activities related to “Qinzhou Day” were held in Kuantan for the first time in April this year. According to the scheme， “Kuantan Day” will be hosted in Qinzhou in April 2017.

“The sister-city relationship has been established between Kuantan and Qinzhou in which industrial parks have been launched and built by the governments of Malaysia and China. Observing the “Qinzhou Day” in Kuantan signifi es that the cooperation model of “Two Countries， Twin Parks” by the two sides is extending from inter-state cooperation to inter-city cooperation， from intergovernmental exchanges to non-governmental exchanges，and from industrial cooperation to cultural exchanges，” said Han Liu， Deputy Mayor of Qinzhou， China. To put into place the “Three Extensions”， the delegation consisting of 73 members was sent by Qinzhou to be engaged in the interactive exchange activities held in Kuantan， including some government officials and a number of entrepreneurs， artists， college students and outstanding youth representatives. In terms of the contents of “Qinzhou Day”，all the available activities themed with “Cooperation and Win-win Results” were carried out in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere， ranging from sincere economic and trade negotiations to prominent characteristic commodity sales exhibitions to mutually beneficial enterprise exchanges to mutually complimentary art performances， and to sports events oriented at the idea of “Friendship First”. The incumbent Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Adnan Yaakob claimed that the success of making Pahang the first priority for Chinese investments is attributed to the cooperation model of “Two Countries， Twin Parks”launched by the leaders of both countries； a new platform for the exchanges and cooperation between Kuantan and Qinzhou has been set up through establishing the sister-city relationship--a cause for celebration， which will further strengthen the pragmatic and high-efficient cooperation between the two sides in such aspects as economy and trade， culture， and tourism. Besides， he decided to go to Qinzhou for a field visit soon because of his profound impression left by the related presentations.

“With geographical proximity， cultural affi nityand cultural integration， the first ‘Qinzhou Day' has made more local people living in Kuantan familiar to Qinzhou， and has drawn much attention of them， particularly the local entrepreneurs. Looking ahead， we expect that more in-depth and permanent cooperation would be conducted between the two sides；meanwhile， more fascinating activities in relation to ‘Kuantan Day' to be held in Qinzhou next year would be presented，” said the Chairman of Kuantan City Council and the Mayor of Kuantan.

Coherent “Sister Cities， Two Days”activities with high standard and quality

In all， there are a total of 21 items of the agenda for “Qinzhou Day”， which were implemented in an orderly way in just three days. During this period， it is learned that over 5，000 enthusiastic participants， including some government offi cials of Kuantan， well-known entrepreneurs，leaders of the local associations of overseas Chinese， youth representatives， college students and citizens， were engaged in the relevant interactive activities， achieving a number of unprecedented fruitful results: Qinzhou Daily established the Sister-newspaper link with Sin Chew Daily； Qinzhou University signed the intention agreement with University Malaysia Pahang （UMP） to establish the relationship of “Twin Universities”； the exhibited commodities brought by 16 Chinese enterprises participating in the activities failed to meet the demands，followed by a series of cooperation intentions with the Malaysian enterprises with interests，etc.

Two signed agreements: a solid foundation and a bright future for “Sister Cities， Two Days”

Throughout the history of Malaysia and China，the friendship between the two sides has developed for over a thousand years， and there are splendid mutually-beneficial stories that took place during the period from China's Tang and Song Dynasties to Ming Dynasty. And in general， Singapore， Malaysia and Thailand are the top three priorities for Chinese civilians when going abroad for the fi rst time.

At present， Qinzhou and Kuantan have offi cially signed the framework agreement on the building of international sister cities and the cooperative framework for “Sister Cities， Two Days”， the systematic arrangements of which have been put into place. Thus， all of this lays a solid foundation for the bilateral cooperation between the two sides to reach a new high. Under the framework agreements， intensified efforts will be made to reinforce the bilateral exchanges and cooperation in economy and trade， industries，ports， culture， physical education， education，tourism， news and so on， and help form the the cooperative mechanism which is available anytime， multilevel and wide-ranging， and thereby to inject powerful positive energy into the sound and booming development of “Two Countries， Twin Parks”.

Speaking of the “Qinzhou Day”， there are high expectations from Pahang and Kuantan City， during which there were five ministerial offi cials and 17 councilmen of the Kuantan City Council attended the relevant activities， which proves that Malaysia gave high priority to this event.

Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed that efforts should be made to build “Two Countries，Twin Parks” into the flagship project for the investment and cooperation between Malaysia and China， as well as the demonstration area for China-ASEAN cooperation. As of now，CMQIP has invested over 3 billion yuan in the construction of infrastructure and attracted more than 10 large-scale projects， some of which have been built and put into operation， thus marching into the harvest period； meanwhile，MCKIP has also stepped up the development and construction， and a number of major projects have been stationed in this industrial park.

（Submitted by Qinzhou Daily）