China, Malaysia hold first defence, security consultation

China and Malaysia held the first ever defense and security consultation between the two defense ministries in a bid to strengthen the military cooperation between the two countries. The meeting was co-chair by Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), and Ismail Ahmad, Secretary General of the Malaysian Defense Ministry, according to China's (Xinhua) News Agency. During the meeting, the two sides spoke positively of the friendly cooperation between the Chinese PLA and the Malaysian Armed Force, while recognized the great potential in it. Both sides agreed to strengthen communication, expand consensus and push forward pragmatic cooperation, in order to further facilitate the development of bilateral relations between China and Malaysia. The two sides reached consensus in a broad range of issues and agreed to maintain high level exchange between the Chinese PLA and the Malaysian Armed Forces, make good use of the defense and security consultation mechanism, strengthen exchange and communication in training cooperation and training system, and deepen cooperation in non-conventional security issues. Both sides agreed that the defense ministries and armed forces of the two countries should make efforts to maintain regional peace and security for the common interest of the two sides.