Southeast Asian leaders are holding their first summit with China and the Six-Member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
The meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, will be held on Tuesday on the second day of the Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN) annual summit.
Malaysia is the current chairman of ASEAN, including Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The meeting follows separate consultations between the ASEAN leader and the GCC, consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim held the ASEAN-GCC summit and said that the strong relationship between the two blocs is key to strengthening collaboration, building resilience and ensuring sustainable prosperity.
“I think the ASEAN-GCC partnership was less important than today, as it navigates an increasingly complex global landscape characterized by economic uncertainty and geopolitical challenges,” Anwar said.
In a written statement before the meeting, the Prime Minister said “a shift in geopolitical order is underway,” and “the global trade system is under further tension, with the recent unilateral US tariffs being imposed.”
He added that as protectionism skyrockets, the world has also witnessed witnesses of “multilateralism broken in seams.”
China wants stronger bonds
Chinese Prime Minister Li Qian, who arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, will join ASEAN and the GCC for the first meeting on Tuesday. He met with Anwar on Monday and called for an expansion of trade and investment relations between Beijing, ASEAN and the GCC.
“At a time when unilateral and protectionism is on the rise and global economic growth is slowing,” Li said.
China hopes to work with Malaysia to “promote closer economic cooperation between the three political parties” and will address the global challenges, Li told Anwar.
ASEAN maintained its neutrality policy and involved both Beijing and Washington, but the threat of US President Donald Trump’s swept tariff came as a blow.
Six of the block members were one of the worst hits, with tariffs ranging from 32% to 49%.
Trump announced a 90-day tariff suspension in most parts of the world in April, and this month he signed a similar contract with its major rival China, easing tensions in the trade war.
Reporting from Kuala Lumpur, Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride said that ASEAN members “we are very much looking at building relationships with the rest of the world, not just with China, but with the Middle East.”
“A measure of the importance that the GCC is also imposing on this meeting is the seniority of the delegations sent here and their members,” he added. “Qatar’s chief Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani is here, and there is also the Kuwait Crown Prince and Bahrain. There is also the Oman Deputy Prime Minister.”
Anwar said on Monday that he wrote to Trump to demand the ASEAN Summit this year, indicating, “We seriously observe the spirit of centrality.” However, his Foreign Minister Mohammad Hasan said Washington has not responded yet.
“Timely, calculations.”
ASEAN has traditionally served as “a kind of intermediary” among developed countries such as the US and China, said Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore (NUS).
“Given the uncertainty and unpredictability associated with economic relations with the US, ASEAN member states are looking to diversify,” he told AFP News.
“Promoting interaction between the Gulf and the People’s Republic of China is one aspect of this diversification.”
Malaysia, which opened the block’s 46th summit on Monday, is the mainstay behind the initiative, he said.
China, which has been bears the brunt of Trump’s tariffs, is trying to support other markets.
Khoo Ying Hooi of the University of Malaya told AFP that the Prime Minister’s participation was “timely and calculated.”
“We see here an opportunity to reinforce our image as a trusted economic partner, especially in the face of decoupling efforts in the West.”
Beijing and Washington engaged in a escalating gust of taxation until meetings in Switzerland saw an agreement to cut it for 90 days.
However, Chinese goods still face higher tariffs than most.
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