On May 12, Tan Sri Tan Khoon Hai，Overseas Director of the Shenyang Municipal People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and President of Penang Chinese Town Hall, led a delegation on a visit to Shenyang. Sun Ye, Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shenyang Municipal People’s Government, met with the delegation. The two sides held working talks on deepening pragmatic cooperation between Shenyang and Malaysia in multiple fields.

Sun Ye extended a warm welcome to the delegation. She stated that the time-honoured friendship between China and Malaysia stretches back over a thousand years. In recent years, the two countries have jointly forged a high-level strategic China-Malaysia community with a shared future, which has pointed the way forward for sub-national exchanges and cooperation. As the cradle of New China’s industry, Shenyang is accelerating its development into an international central city in Northeast Asia and striving to build “one hub and four centres”. Endowed with a solid industrial foundation and unique cultural and tourism resources, it is reputed as the “Ruhr of the East”. Penang is known as the “Silicon Valley of the East” with highly developed semiconductor and electronics industries. The two regions feature strong industrial complementarity and broad prospects for cooperation. She expressed the hope that together with the Penang Chinese Town Hall, both sides will elevate cooperation in economy and trade, education, culture and tourism to new heights and set an exemplary model for sub-national cooperation between China and Malaysia.

Tan Sri Tan Khoon Hai expressed sincere gratitude for the warm reception in Shenyang. He introduced that the Penang Chinese Town Hall, with a history of more than a century, has always adhered to the tenet of "seeking well-being for overseas Chinese, promoting development of Chinese associations, and fostering harmony within the Chinese community". It unites people and enhances Malaysia-China friendship through activities such as traditional Chinese festivals, tai chi events, and hometown-association gatherings. The purpose of this visit to Shenyang is to further leverage its role as a platform and bridge, advance pragmatic cooperation between the two regions across various fields, and carry forward the long-standing friendship between China and Malaysia.

During their stay in Shenyang, the delegation paid field visits to SIASUN Robot & Automation Co., Ltd. to gain an in-depth understanding of cutting-edge achievements in intelligent manufacturing and technological innovation. It conducted research on the Shenyang Area of China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Zone, exploring cooperation approaches for business forms including artworks import and export, construction of overseas bonded warehouses, and cross-border duty-free consumption. The delegation also held working talks with local economic and trade, education, cultural and tourism institutions as well as key enterprises, engaging in in-depth exchanges on industrial collaboration and people-to-people exchanges. In addition, they visited the Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum to experience Shenyang’s profound historical heritage and cultural charm.

Going forward, the two sides will carry out targeted cooperation, consolidate economic and trade engagement, smooth communication channels for businesses and enterprises, and boost two-way investment. The two sides will deepen educational cooperation to establish a linkage mechanism for talent cultivation covering basic education, vocational education and higher education. The two sides will also expand integrated cultural and tourism development, explore the launch of charter flights and joint development of cross-border cultural and tourism products, injecting diverse Malaysian elements into Shenyang’s drive to build itself into an international central city in Northeast Asia.

The Penang Chinese Town Hall of Malaysia is one of the oldest and most representative united Chinese organizations in Penang, Malaysia. Its tenets are to unite the Chinese community in Penang, coordinate affairs of clansmen associations from different native places, safeguard the rights and interests of the Chinese community, and promote cultural, educational and public welfare development. Up to now, Penang Chinese Town Hall has more than 500 corporate members and around 50,000 individual members.