Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Friday met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse here.

Both leaders, accompanied by several ministers, held a bilateral meeting for about 90 minutes where they touched on the achievements and progress made since both countries established diplomatic ties 40 years ago, and the future direction to be taken.

In his opening remarks, Xi expressed his gratitude for the warm reception he received during his visit to Malaysia last October, and sent his regards to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Halim Muadzam Shah.

The president said the establishment of diplomatic ties during Najib's father and second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein's administration in 1974 had opened a new chapter in the two nations' relationship.

Xi also touched on the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, saying that China would continue to assist Malaysia in searching for the flight that went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board, including 154 Chinese nationals.

"We hope Malaysia will continue all efforts in the search operation so that the final resting place can be located as soon as possible," he said.

Najib, who arrived in China on Tuesday, said he was looking forward to the visit as it would be a nostalgic one, which brought back the memory of his father's historic visit to Beijing 40 years ago.

"I have been looking forward to this visit for a long time as this commemorates the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. I hope this visit will further strengthen our two countries' relationship," he
said.

In 1974, the late Abdul Razak had marked the beginning of a historic era when he first forged bilateral ties with China, at a time when the country was still entrenched in its closed-door policy to most of the world.

Malaysia was the first Asean member country to establish diplomatic ties with China during the era of the Cold War of the 1960s and 1970s.

Najib also gave his assurance that Malaysia would continue the effort to search for the missing MAS flight MH370 with the assistance of China, Australia and other countries.

Saying that it was a testing time for both countries, Najib said he believed their strong relationship would withstand such challenges and thanked the Chinese Government and its people for their understanding.

"I can assure that we will do the utmost to find the answer on what happened. We owe to the family...we must find the wreckage so that we can find closure to this," he added.

Najib said Malaysia would continue to work with the international community, especially China and Australia, adding that no one country could handle the issue as it was unprecedented in the history of aviation.

Also present were Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman; the Prime Minister's Special Envoy to China Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting; International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed; Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Idris Haron, and MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.