On December 5, Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang met with visiting Malaysian Minister of Interior Azmi Khalid.

Shen reiterated the Chinese government's principled position on the handling of cases of assaults against Chinese citizens. He stressed the Chinese government gives top priority to the protection of its citizens' dignity and personal safety and is very concerned about the recent cases of humiliation and assault against Chinese citizens in Malaysia. It is hoped that Malaysia can fully realize the urgency and graveness of the matter, continue to thoroughly investigate into the cases with an earnest and responsible attitude and sternly punish the criminals and offenders in accordance with law. China also hopes Malaysia can adopt effective measures to protect the legitimate rights of Chinese citizens in Malaysia and prevent any reoccurrences of such cases.

Azmi said China is a very important and friendly nation to Malaysia. The Malaysian government highly values its relations with China and would like to express deep regret and apology for the cases of assault against Chinese citizens. Malaysia attaches great importance to the handling of the cases and has set up a special investigation committee under the instruction of Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The committee will earnestly investigate into the cases and seriously handle the cases. Malaysia will try to inform China of the investigation and final result as soon as possible. He added that his government is taking effective measures to avoid the recurrence of such cases in the future.

Azmi was in China to make clarifications to the country on the assaults against Chinese citizens under the instruction of Prime Minister Badawi. Officials from the Ministry of Public Security and National Tourism Administration also met with Azmi respectively on the same day.