Latest news with #Asean-China-GCCSummit
The Star
3 days ago
- Business
- The Star
China, Asean, GCC forge innovative trilateral cooperation amid global risks
KUALA LUMPUR (Xinhua): Amid escalating global challenges, China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have forged a groundbreaking path in cross-regional cooperation. In a historic move, they convened a landmark trilateral summit in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia -- Asean's current chair -- marking a bold step toward collective resilience, economic synergy, and a shared vision for prosperity. At the inaugural Asean-China-GCC Summit on Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang called on the three parties to set a global benchmark in openness, development cooperation and cross-civilisation integration. His call comes at a critical juncture, as rising protectionism and escalating geopolitical tensions threaten to fracture the international order. Amid global economic headwinds and mounting uncertainties, Li noted that by strengthening connectivity and collaboration, the three sides can forge a vibrant economic circle and a powerful engine for growth, which holds profound significance not only for their respective prosperity but also for advancing peace and development across Asia and the world. "As some countries are becoming more protectionist and isolationist, the summit was a good initiative and effort to counter these emerging trends," said Lee Pei May, a political expert at the International Islamic University Malaysia. "The summit proves that economies can complement rather than compete with one another, easing the worries that countries can only develop if they turn inward," Lee added. At the tripartite gathering, Li urged all sides to work together to build a model of global cooperation and development in three aspects -- creating a model of cross-region openness, forging a model of cooperation across different development stages, and fostering a model of cross-civilisation integration. At the summit, the leaders committed to further strengthening Belt and Road cooperation, with a focus on deepening ties in connectivity, trade, industrial and supply chains, agriculture, energy, finance, and the digital economy. They pledged to accelerate trilateral integration, fostering robust, inclusive, and sustainable development for all. The summit adopted a joint statement, which was hailed as "detailed, elaborate" and a strong message of trilateral solidarity and cooperation by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. In the joint statement, the relevant countries acknowledged their joint efforts to promote closer cooperation between Asean, GCC and China, and China's vision to build a closer Asean-China community with a shared future and a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era. Andrew Kam Jia Yi, senior research fellow with the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies at the National University of Malaysia, said the summit highlights how the strengths of each party can complement one another. "The GCC's energy and financial resources, Asean's growing consumer base, and China's technological and financial capacities together create more resilient supply chains and boost food and energy security for all," he said. Following the summit, Li also delivered remarks at the opening ceremony of the Asean-China-GCC Economic Forum 2025. He emphasised China's commitment to energising trilateral cooperation through its high-quality development, pledging to firmly expand high-level opening up, promote mutual reinforcement between domestic and international circulations and share the opportunities of China's development with countries of Asean and GCC, and enterprises from around the world. The trilateral cooperation mechanism not only fosters collaborative agreements across regions but also creates a novel platform of communication and dialogue for the Global South countries to closely coordinate on regional and international affairs and amplify their voices on the global stage. The joint statement recognises the need to strengthen confidence in the rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation at its core, and reaffirms the countries' resolve to make economic globalisation more open, inclusive, balanced, and beneficial to their peoples and future generations. During talks with other leaders on the sidelines of the summit, the Chinese premier voiced China's readiness to push for a greater role of the Global South in improving global governance. In his meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Li said that China looks to strengthen communication and cooperation with Vietnam and jointly protect the common interests of the Global South countries. During their meeting a day before the summit, Li told Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, crown prince of Kuwait, that China is committed to strengthening communication and coordination with Kuwait through various multilateral platforms to push for more just and equitable global governance and a more harmonious, stable and prosperous world. The trilateral summit "encourages other regions to pursue similar models of collaboration," Kam said. "It is a sign of growing solidarity, where countries of the Global South are working together to shape their own futures, assert their priorities on the global stage, and build a more equitable and stable world order from the ground up," the scholar added.- Xinhua
Borneo Post
5 days ago
- Business
- Borneo Post
China, Asean, GCC forge innovative trilateral cooperation amid global risks
Li attends the Asean-China-GCC Summit in Kuala Lumpur on May 27, 2025. – Xinhua photo KUALA LUMPUR (May 28): Amid escalating global challenges, China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have forged a groundbreaking path in cross-regional cooperation. In a historic move, they convened a landmark trilateral summit in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia – Asean's current chair – marking a bold step toward collective resilience, economic synergy, and a shared vision for prosperity. At the inaugural Asean-China-GCC Summit on Tuesday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang called on the three parties to set a global benchmark in openness, development cooperation and cross-civilisation integration. His call comes at a critical juncture, as rising protectionism and escalating geopolitical tensions threaten to fracture the international order. Amid global economic headwinds and mounting uncertainties, Li noted that by strengthening connectivity and collaboration, the three sides can forge a vibrant economic circle and a powerful engine for growth, which holds profound significance not only for their respective prosperity but also for advancing peace and development across Asia and the world. 'As some countries are becoming more protectionist and isolationist, the summit was a good initiative and effort to counter these emerging trends,' said Lee Pei May, a political expert at the International Islamic University Malaysia. 'The summit proves that economies can complement rather than compete with one another, easing the worries that countries can only develop if they turn inward,' Lee added. At the tripartite gathering, Li urged all sides to work together to build a model of global cooperation and development in three aspects – creating a model of cross-region openness, forging a model of cooperation across different development stages, and fostering a model of cross-civilisation integration. Li attends the Asean-China-GCC Summit in Kuala Lumpur on May 27, 2025. – Xinhua photo At the summit, the leaders committed to further strengthening Belt and Road cooperation, with a focus on deepening ties in connectivity, trade, industrial and supply chains, agriculture, energy, finance, and the digital economy. They pledged to accelerate trilateral integration, fostering robust, inclusive, and sustainable development for all. The summit adopted a joint statement, which was hailed as 'detailed, elaborate' and a strong message of trilateral solidarity and cooperation by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. In the joint statement, the relevant countries acknowledged their joint efforts to promote closer cooperation between Asean, GCC and China, and China's vision to build a closer Asean-China community with a shared future and a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era. Andrew Kam Jia Yi, senior research fellow with the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies at the National University of Malaysia, said the summit highlights how the strengths of each party can complement one another. 'The GCC's energy and financial resources, Asean's growing consumer base, and China's technological and financial capacities together create more resilient supply chains and boost food and energy security for all,' he said. Following the summit, Li also delivered remarks at the opening ceremony of the Asean-China-GCC Economic Forum 2025. He emphasised China's commitment to energising trilateral cooperation through its high-quality development, pledging to firmly expand high-level opening up, promote mutual reinforcement between domestic and international circulations and share the opportunities of China's development with countries of Asean and GCC, and enterprises from around the world. The trilateral cooperation mechanism not only fosters collaborative agreements across regions, but creates a novel platform of communication and dialogue for the Global South countries to closely coordinate on regional and international affairs and amplify their voices on the global stage. The joint statement recognises the need to strengthen confidence in the rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organisation at its core, and reaffirms the countries' resolve to make economic globalisation more open, inclusive, balanced, and beneficial to their peoples and future generations. During talks with other leaders on the sidelines of the summit, the Chinese premier voiced China's readiness to push for a greater role of the Global South in improving global governance. In his meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Li said that China looks to strengthen communication and cooperation with Vietnam and jointly protect the common interests of the Global South countries. During their meeting a day before the summit, Li told Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, crown prince of Kuwait, that China is committed to strengthening communication and coordination with Kuwait through various multilateral platforms to push for more just and equitable global governance and a more harmonious, stable and prosperous world. The trilateral summit 'encourages other regions to pursue similar models of collaboration,' Kam said. 'It is a sign of growing solidarity, where countries of the Global South are working together to shape their own futures, assert their priorities on the global stage, and build a more equitable and stable world order from the ground up,' the scholar added. – Xinhua Asean-China-GCC Summit China Li Qiang Xinhua
The Star
25-05-2025
- Business
- The Star
Asean-China-GCC ties seen to inject certainty into global economy
KUALA LUMPUR: Cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries will unlock immense potential for multilateral cooperation across sectors and inject stability into the world economy, analysts said ahead of an inaugural joint summit for the three parties. At the Asean-China-GCC Summit, to be held in the Malaysian capital next week, the three parties are expected to deepen practical cooperation in various fields, such as trade, investment and supply chain, creating new opportunities in clean and renewable energy, digital economy, electric vehicles, financial markets and infrastructure development among other areas. The trilateral gathering of the leaders of 17 countries also marks an innovative step in cross-regional South-South cooperation among complementary economies to ride out trade disruptions caused by US tariffs. 'Golden triangle' Asean, a group of 10 Southeast Asian countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, is the fifth-largest economy after the United States, China, the EU and Japan. With a large, youthful population driving digital transformation, abundant natural resources, and a skilled labor force, Asean has positioned itself as a major engine powering the global supply chain and industrial development. The GCC economies, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are expected to double its economic growth rate from 2.1 percent in 2024 to 4.2 percent in 2025, the First Abu Dhabi Bank, the largest bank in the UAE, said in a report released in February. According to the report, the GCC's economic resilience will be supported by strategic investments, diversification and robust expansion in the non-oil sector, as the Middle East undergoes a shift from a major oil exporter to a global green energy hub. Julia Roknifard, a senior lecturer at Taylor's University in Malaysia, said China is an anchor for Asean-GCC cooperation. "China has already had a transformative effect on Asean and the wider Middle East, including GCC states, through its various infrastructure, trade and development initiatives, particularly through the Belt and Road Initiative guided by the Global Development Initiative," she said. "But the relationship goes deeper than that, as China is increasingly engaged in technology sharing and shared industrialization, besides tourism, cultural exchange and longstanding people-to-people relationships," Roknifard added. The expert called the trilateral cooperation platform a "Golden Triangle" of resources, manufacturing and consumers, which will continue to power the global economy despite severe trade disruptions due to recent US tariff policy. Visitors attend the 21st China-ASEAN Expo at Nanning International Convention and Exhibition Center in Nanning, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Sept 24, 2024. - Photo: Xinhua file Protecting global trade The trilateral event comes amid heightened uncertainty in world economy. In its April World Economic Outlook (WEO), the IMF downgraded its global growth forecast for 2025 to 2.8 percent, a hefty 0.5 percentage points decrease from its January estimate. "Since the release of the January WEO Update, a series of new tariff measures by the United States and countermeasures by trading partners have been announced and implemented," the report said, calling the US reciprocal tariffs "near-universal" and "not seen in a century". "The unprecedented imposition of tariffs by the US will disrupt regional and global trade and investment flows, as well as supply chains, affecting businesses and consumers worldwide, including those of the US," Asean economic ministers said in a joint statement issued following a special virtual meeting held on April 10. US tariffs are also endangering $22 billion worth of non-oil exports of GCC economies, according to a recent policy brief by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. The UN agency said Bahrain is flagged due to its heavy dependence on aluminum and chemical exports to the US market, while the UAE could see disruptions to roughly $10 billion in US-bound re-exports, a result of US tariffs on goods originally produced in third countries. Facing trade disruption, China, Asean and GCC members - as part of the Global South, can jointly catalyse more cooperation across other Global South countries by inspiring similar initiatives, said Bunn Nagara, director and senior fellow at the Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia-Pacific (BRICAP), an independent non-governmental think tank based in Kuala Lumpur. "Our success in cooperation is also a success for the Global South," the expert said. "Countries in Africa and Latin America share our aspirations." "Part of our interests lies in protecting global trade, on which our respective national development programmes depend. This will also benefit other countries and regions around the world," he added. Solid foundation Cooperation among China, Asean and GCC countries has witnessed fruitful results in recent years. In October 2023, the first Asean-GCC summit was held in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, marking a significant milestone in the relations between the two regional organisations, which forged ties in 1990. The Asean-GCC Framework of Cooperation (2024-2028) was presented at the conclusion of the summit, which outlines measures and cooperation activities in such sectors as security, trade and investment, cultural exchanges and tourism. In December 2022, the first China-GCC summit was held in Riyadh. China pledged to work with GCC countries to prioritise cooperation in energy, finance and investment, innovation, science and technology, aerospace, as well as language and cultural fields. China and GCC countries are natural partners of cooperation with strong economic complementarities, Chinese leaders have said, as China has a vast consumer market and a complete industrial system, while the GCC, with rich energy resources, is embracing diversified economic development. Meanwhile, China and Asean countries have fully completed negotiations on the Version 3.0 China-Asean Free Trade Area (Cafta), and will strive to formally sign the Cafta 3.0 upgrade protocol before the end of this year, economic and trade ministers from China and Asean said at a special online meeting on Tuesday. "Over the past decade, economic ties between Asean and China have strengthened significantly, bolstered by shared participation in regional production networks and the rapid economic growth of both sides," Abdul Mui'zz Morhalim, chief economist at MIDF Amanah Investment Bank, told Xinhua. The upcoming Asean-China-GCC summit is expected to establish an important mechanism for trilateral cooperation across the board. The three sides will be able to synergize their economic and industrial policies, and have the potential to upgrade their cooperation in many fields, including clean energy and the digital economy, analysts said. - Xinhua
