Latest news with #China-GCC
Malaysia Sun
3 days ago
- Business
- Malaysia Sun
Chinese premier returns to Beijing after official visit to Indonesia, ASEAN-China-GCC summit in Malaysia
BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang returned to Beijing on Wednesday aboard a chartered plane after paying an official visit to Indonesia and attending the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-China-GCC (the Gulf Cooperation Council) Summit in Malaysia. Li was seen off from the airport by Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing and Chinese Ambassador to ASEAN Hou Yanqi.
Kyodo News
3 days ago
- Business
- Kyodo News
China, ASEAN, Arab states hold 1st summit to bolster economic ties
KYODO NEWS - 23 hours ago - 20:25 | World, All Leaders of China, Southeast Asia and six Arab nations held their first meeting Tuesday in Malaysia to bolster economic cooperation between the three parties, the population of which accounts for one quarter of the world's, amid global trade tensions over U.S. tariffs. Chinese Premier Li Qiang said at the meeting in Kuala Lumpur that his country, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council nations should "set a fine example of opening up across regions." "Our markets, if fully connected, will generate even greater space for development," Li said, referring to China-ASEAN free trade agreement and China-GCC free trade pact, which the Asian superpower and the six Arab countries are trying to reach. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said ASEAN, GCC and China collectively represent a combined gross domestic product of $24.87 trillion, which is growing exponentially, and have a population of approximately 2.15 billion. "The collective scale offers vast opportunities to synergize our markets, deepen innovation and promote cross-regional investment," Anwar said. "I am confident that ASEAN, GCC and China can grow on our unique attributes and shape a future that is more connected," he added. The meeting was held as China aims to boost ties with other economies, following a tit-for-tat trade war with the United States that ended in a preliminary deal earlier this month to lower recently imposed tariffs on each other's imports. Southeast Asian countries are seeking to diversify their trade partners and reduce reliance on the United States after President Donald Trump announced so-called reciprocal tariffs in April, with duties ranging from 10 percent to 49 percent to be imposed on the 10 members of ASEAN. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. According to a draft joint statement of the trilateral summit, obtained by Kyodo News, the three parties recognized that the diversity of their economies "creates new opportunities for greater cross-sectoral trade, investment, and economic collaboration." ASEAN and the GCC held their second summit earlier Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur. Leaders of the two regional blocs met for the first time in 2023 in Saudi Arabia, where they agreed to meet every two years. The ASEAN members as a group represent the world's fifth-largest economy with a combined GDP of $3.8 trillion, while China remains the bloc's biggest trading partner with bilateral trade valued at $696.7 billion in 2023, according to a statement from the Malaysian Prime Minister's Office released Monday. Total trade between ASEAN and the GCC reached $130.7 billion that year, according to the statement. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Related coverage: ASEAN leaders meet as U.S. tariffs rattle regional economies Tariffs to hurt U.S. more than others: ex-Malaysia PM Mahathir ASEAN-plus-3 finance chiefs warn of protectionism after U.S. tariffs
Malaysia Sun
4 days ago
- Business
- Malaysia Sun
Full text: Remarks by Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the ASEAN-China-GCC Summit
KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday addressed the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-China-GCC (the Gulf Cooperation Council) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The following is the full text of his remarks at the summit: Remarks by H.E. Li Qiang Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China At the ASEAN-China-GCC Summit Kuala Lumpur, May 27, 2025 Your Honorable Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Your Highness Crown Prince Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Colleagues, It gives me great pleasure to join you in Kuala Lumpur. First of all, the Chinese side would like to extend sincere appreciation to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for his vision in proposing the ASEAN-China-GCC Summit. We also wish to express our heartfelt thanks to the Malaysian government for the dedicated efforts and thoughtful arrangements made for the summit. China, ASEAN and GCC countries have a long history of friendly interactions, with exchanges and cooperation between us spanning thousands of years from the ancient Silk Road to the Belt and Road Initiative. Today, against a volatile international landscape and sluggish global growth, the establishment of the ASEAN-China-GCC Summit creates a platform for exchanges and a mechanism for cooperation. It is a groundbreaking initiative in regional economic cooperation that has carried forward the legacy of history, and more importantly, answered the call of the times. If we take a look at the world map and draw a line between China, ASEAN and the GCC, we will get a big triangle. As we know, triangle is the most stable structure. By enhancing connectivity and cooperation, we can pool our resources, production capacity and markets to foster a vibrant economic circle and growth pole. This is highly important both to our respective economic prosperity and to peace and development in Asia and the world. We should firmly seize this historic opportunity to enrich the trilateral cooperation, and set a fine example for global cooperation and development in this era. First, we should set a fine example of opening up across regions. Together, China, ASEAN and the GCC account for roughly a quarter of the world's population and economic output. Our markets, if fully connected, will generate even greater space for development and more substantial economies of scale. The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 upgrade negotiations have been fully concluded. It is hoped that the negotiations for the China-GCC Free Trade Agreement can also be concluded as early as possible to take trilateral trade to a higher level. We should firmly expand regional opening up, and develop a big market with more efficient mobility of resources, technologies and talents and enhanced trade and investment liberalization and facilitation to fully unlock the huge potential of open development. Second, we should set a fine example of cooperation across development stages. Countries of the three sides are at different stages of development, yet we should not let these differences stand in the way of our cooperation, but transform them into complementary strengths that we can harness. China is ready to, on the basis of mutual respect and equality, work with ASEAN and the GCC to strengthen the alignment of development strategies, increase macro policy coordination, and deepen collaboration on industrial specialization. We should make efforts to turn our respective strengths into collective strengths, and help each other tackle development challenges. We should create a new model of international industrial and economic cooperation, and strive for coordinated development where everyone does its level best, efficiency is multiplied, and benefits are shared. Third, we should set a fine example of inter-civilization integration. Countries of the three sides have diverse civilizations. At the same time, we all belong to the same Asian family and share the same Asian values of peace, cooperation, openness and inclusiveness. We should deepen people-to-people exchanges to further consolidate the foundation for mutual trust. We should effectively manage differences in the spirit of mutual understanding, advance win-win cooperation through the exchange of ideas, and explore a new way for promoting the inclusiveness and common progress of different civilizations. China actively supports Prime Minister Anwar's initiative on Islam-Confucianism dialogue. We are ready to work with ASEAN and the GCC to implement the Global Civilization Initiative, promote mutual learning among civilizations, and pool more consensus and strengths for peace and development. Today, we have established the trilateral cooperation mechanism and drawn up a promising vision of joint development. What's more important now is for all sides to take concrete actions and advance substantive cooperation. Between our three sides, we should work together to promote cooperation in key areas and achieve more effective common development. China is ready to discuss with ASEAN and the GCC a trilateral action plan on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. We should enhance synergy and connectivity in infrastructure, market rules and payment systems, actively consider establishing a regional business council, deepen economic integration, and make development more resilient and efficient. While expanding cooperation in traditional areas such as energy and agriculture, we also need to step up cooperation in emerging areas such as AI, the digital economy, and green and low-carbon development to foster and cultivate new growth drivers. We should also respond to our people's aspiration for enduring friendship, and deepen people-to-people exchanges. To promote travels and people-to-people bond between the three sides, China has decided to roll out an "ASEAN visa" for Southeast Asian countries offering five-year multiple-entry visas to eligible applicants for business and other purposes, and to extend unilateral visa-free policy to Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, and Bahrain on a trial basis, which will effectively give visa-free status to all GCC countries. At the global level, we should always stand on the right side of history and add more positive energy to world peace and development. We should pursue equal, mutually beneficial, open, inclusive, practical and efficient cooperation, and, through our example, encourage the international community to uphold multilateralism and free trade and reject unilateralism and protectionism. China will work with ASEAN and GCC countries to step up communication and coordination in multilateral mechanisms including the United Nations, vigorously defend the common interests of developing countries, categorically oppose hegemonism and power politics, and make global governance more just and equitable. As President Xi Jinping noted, "For us to break through the mist and embrace a bright future, the biggest strength comes from cooperation, and the most effective way is through solidarity." China will join ASEAN and the GCC in fostering synergies that multiply rather than simply add our individual strengths, and inject strong impetus into our common development and prosperity. I am confident that through our concerted efforts, trilateral cooperation will continue to produce positive results and deliver more benefits to our people, thereby making greater contributions to peace and development in Asia and the world. Thank you.
Malaysia Sun
4 days ago
- Business
- Malaysia Sun
Full Text: Speech by Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN-China-GCC Economic Forum
KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-China-GCC (the Gulf Cooperation Council) Economic Forum 2025. The following is the full text of the speech: Speech by H.E. Li Qiang Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China At the Opening Ceremony of The ASEAN-China-GCC Economic Forum Kuala Lumpur, May 27, 2025 Your Honorable Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Distinguished Guests, Business Leaders, Ladies and Gentlemen, It gives me great pleasure to join you in Kuala Lumpur for the opening ceremony of the ASEAN-China-GCC Economic Forum. The ASEAN-China-GCC Summit is successfully held today. We have agreed to strengthen our trilateral partnership and ushered in a new chapter of trilateral cooperation. The leaders of participating countries have had in-depth discussions under the theme of "Synergizing Economic Opportunities Toward Shared Prosperity." It is widely agreed that profound and complex transformations are taking place in the global political and economic landscape, the common challenges countries face in their development are increasing, and the scarcity of development opportunities makes them all the more precious, increases the urgency of cooperation, and calls for more vision. In this context, our discussions are highly relevant and should involve all related sectors, particularly the business community, so as to pool wisdom and build consensus among more stakeholders. Let me take this opportunity to share with you three observations. First, given everything that is going on, opportunities can be created if we join hands to meet the challenges. At present, economic globalization is suffering heavy blows never seen before. The values we pursue all along, such as peace, development and win-win cooperation, are severely challenged. Properly addressing these issues will bring significant opportunities for the countries of our three sides. Amid heightened geopolitical conflict, rivalry and confrontation, we can create long-term strategic opportunities when we deepen mutual trust and strengthen solidarity. The rapid development of Asia in the past decades offers a profound lesson: Only solidarity, mutual trust, peace and stability can bring development and prosperity. All countries are part of a close-knit community with a shared future. In the absence of mutual trust, problems may be amplified and cooperation becomes impossible. Yet with solidarity and mutual trust, we can render each other strategic support and cultivate broader and more sustainable high-standard economic cooperation, thus ensuring long-term, steady development. Amid rising protectionism and unilateralism, we can unleash enormous market opportunities when we continue to open wider and remove barriers. Countries of our three sides have all benefited from economic globalization and gained great development opportunities from integration into the world market. Our markets, when connected, will form one of the world's largest intra-regional markets and produce a multiplier effect. Building the big market will allow our countries to reap and share more benefits. Amid more decoupling practice, supply-chain disruptions and trade barriers, we can create opportunities for transformation and upgrading when we keep sharing resources and empowering one another. Countries vary in resource endowments and industrial structure. They bring different strengths to and gain from international industrial cooperation. This will maximize the use of resources, and boost industrial performance and sustained development for all who take part. Second, the friendly cooperation between China, ASEAN and GCC countries has a long history and a bright future. More than 2,000 years ago, the earliest camel caravan from China reached the Middle East, and the first Chinese fleet landed in Nanyang (Southeast Asia). Ever since then, trade and people-to-people exchanges have connected us throughout over 20 centuries, strengthening and flourishing over time. These rich historical links will ensure even more successes in our future cooperation. Together, we will find greater potential for development. We are about a quarter of the world's population and the global economy, but only about 5 percent of global trade. A lot remains untapped. As we deepen our cooperation, our trade and investment will grow continuously and uplift our nations as well as our businesses. Together, our economies will work more efficiently. When factors of production move more easily between our countries and our industries are connected more closely, the cost of energy and other resources will go down, logistics will be faster, financial services will be more efficient, and more advanced technologies will give us strong impetus. The competitiveness and resilience of our economies will grow substantially, and our development will be more efficient and secure. Together, we will create more dynamic ecosystems of innovation. We are all outstanding innovators, each excelling in our own ways. Greater cooperation will enable our innovative talents to better learn from and complement one another, and provide first-class R&D support and rich application scenarios for innovation and creation to sow the seeds for more new industries and new forms of business. This will allow us all to stand taller in the global landscape of innovation. The future of our trilateral cooperation is boundless like the oceans. It is upon us to take real actions in order to steer and shape it. China stands ready to work with ASEAN and GCC countries to strengthen alignment of development strategies, deepen cooperation on regional integration, and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. At the same time, we must firmly uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, and stand for a stable and orderly global market environment. As the ongoing scientific revolution and industrial transformation unfold, let us join hands to seize the early opportunities, expand high-tech cooperation, safeguard the stable and unimpeded industrial and supply chains, and keep breaking new ground in our common development. Third, with its high-quality development, China will consistently inject new impetus into the trilateral cooperation. In terms of development momentum, the Chinese economy has been growing steadily since the beginning of this year. With a year-on-year GDP growth of 5.4 percent in the first quarter, China is one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. In the first four months of this year, we've seen strong development in the industrial sector, resilient export despite external pressure, and sustained expansion of new growth drivers. The figures speak for themselves: The added value of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 6.4 percent year-on-year; export increased by 7.5 percent compared with the same period last year; the added value of high-tech manufacturing and the investment in high-tech services went up by 9.8 percent and 11.3 percent year-on-year respectively; and production and sales of new energy vehicles both exceeded four million. Smart factories now cover more than 80 percent of the manufacturing sectors. These achievements speak volumes about the great stability of the Chinese economy. As President Xi Jinping said, the Chinese economy is not a pond, but an ocean. This vast ocean can withstand fierce winds and heavy rains. Each storm weathered only deepens its resilience and makes it more open and inclusive. In terms of macro policies, facing risks and challenges from the external environment, we made clear that more proactive and effective macro policies will be implemented and that a more proactive fiscal policy and an appropriately accommodative monetary policy will be adopted. Fiscal expenditures hit a record high and the regulation of monetary and financial aggregates has been significantly strengthened, providing a strong underpinning for the expansion of aggregate demand. Going forward, we will continue to strengthen counter-cyclical adjustments in light of the changing circumstances. Whatever challenges lie ahead in the future, we have the capability and confidence to maintain the steady and long-term development of the Chinese economy. In terms of strategic goals, China is a super-sized economy that enjoys the unique strength of major economies, i.e., domestic demand is the main driver and domestic circulation is possible. We are increasingly placing our strategic priority on expanding domestic demand and strengthening domestic circulation with a view to enhancing the internal driving force of the Chinese economy. We have accelerated efforts to implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand and have launched special initiatives to boost consumption. As more policy resources are given to consumption, a huge demand potential will be unleashed. We are also further deepening reform comprehensively and accelerating the high-end, smart and green industrial transformation, which will create new, additional demand. The Chinese economy is of great breadth and depth, which can provide a huge market for quality products from all over the world. We will stay committed to expanding high-standard opening up, take more measures to advance voluntary and unilateral opening up, and enable domestic and international circulations to reinforce each other, so that companies across the world, including those from ASEAN and GCC countries, can fully share in the opportunity of China's development. Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, Cooperation is the only right way to overcome common challenges. China stands ready to work together with ASEAN and GCC countries to embrace greater openness and cooperation, promote steady economic growth, and join hands to synergize economic opportunities toward shared prosperity. Thank you.
Kyodo News
4 days ago
- Business
- Kyodo News
China, ASEAN, Arab states hold 1st summit to bolster economic ties
KYODO NEWS - 33 minutes ago - 20:25 | World, All Leaders of China, Southeast Asia and six Arab nations held their first meeting Tuesday in Malaysia to bolster economic cooperation between the three parties, the population of which accounts for one quarter of the world's, amid global trade tensions over U.S. tariffs. Chinese Premier Li Qiang said at the meeting in Kuala Lumpur that his country, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Gulf Cooperation Council nations should "set a fine example of opening up across regions." "Our markets, if fully connected, will generate even greater space for development," Li said, referring to China-ASEAN free trade agreement and China-GCC free trade pact, which the Asian superpower and the six Arab countries are trying to reach. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said ASEAN, GCC and China collectively represent a combined gross domestic product of $24.87 trillion, which is growing exponentially, and have a population of approximately 2.15 billion. "The collective scale offers vast opportunities to synergize our markets, deepen innovation and promote cross-regional investment," Anwar said. "I am confident that ASEAN, GCC and China can grow on our unique attributes and shape a future that is more connected," he added. The meeting was held as China aims to boost ties with other economies, following a tit-for-tat trade war with the United States that ended in a preliminary deal earlier this month to lower recently imposed tariffs on each other's imports. Southeast Asian countries are seeking to diversify their trade partners and reduce reliance on the United States after President Donald Trump announced so-called reciprocal tariffs in April, with duties ranging from 10 percent to 49 percent to be imposed on the 10 members of ASEAN. The GCC comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. According to a draft joint statement of the trilateral summit, obtained by Kyodo News, the three parties recognized that the diversity of their economies "creates new opportunities for greater cross-sectoral trade, investment, and economic collaboration." ASEAN and the GCC held their second summit earlier Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur. Leaders of the two regional blocs met for the first time in 2023 in Saudi Arabia, where they agreed to meet every two years. The ASEAN members as a group represent the world's fifth-largest economy with a combined GDP of $3.8 trillion, while China remains the bloc's biggest trading partner with bilateral trade valued at $696.7 billion in 2023, according to a statement from the Malaysian Prime Minister's Office released Monday. Total trade between ASEAN and the GCC reached $130.7 billion that year, according to the statement. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Related coverage: ASEAN leaders meet as U.S. tariffs rattle regional economies Tariffs to hurt U.S. more than others: ex-Malaysia PM Mahathir ASEAN-plus-3 finance chiefs warn of protectionism after U.S. tariffs
