Why Malaysia seeks enduring Asean-GCC-China cooperation
The summit attracted extensive media coverage. Some lauded it as a 'significant diplomatic first' and a platform ripe with immense economic promise and geostrategic weight. Others dismissed it as 'more symbolism than substance'.
The true significance of the initiative is perhaps best understood through Malaysia's long-standing ambition to serve as a bridge between different regions and civilisations. In bringing this latest forum to life – one in the ever-expanding constellation of Asean-led mechanisms – Malaysia's leadership and national interests were plainly evident.
But a deeper, often overlooked impetus lies in the imperative to connect past and present.
Foreign ministers attend an East Asia Summit meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 11. The EAS began during Malaysia's Asean chairmanship in 2005. Photo: Kyodo
Malaysian elites have long been influenced by memories of premodern sultanate diplomacy, when small states such as 15th-century Melaka asserted their agency to shape the regional order, acting as crucial nodes in trade routes stretching from
China through the Malay Archipelago to
India , Persia and Arabia, as diplomatic historian Anthony Milner observes.
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