[By Guancha Net Columnist Ong Tee Keat]
At a time when multilateralism is being put to the test, the China-ASEAN-GCC trilateral summit held in Kuala Lumpur in late May 2025 was indeed a timely rain. Not only did it steadfastly raise the flag of multilateralism amidst tariff barriers and the rise of anti-globalization, but it also demonstrated economic resilience under the premise of ASEAN's "inclusive and sustainable" principles, further extending the framework of free trade beyond the traditional Asia-Pacific region.
From the perspective of timeliness, this undoubtedly boosted the morale of multilateral cooperation that has been gradually waning within the global integration framework and gave strong endorsement to the free trade system centered around the World Trade Organization.
For ASEAN, which encompasses ten Southeast Asian countries, China is not only its largest trading partner but also a comprehensive strategic partner. Over the years, the bilateral free trade agreement has deepened and solidified, reaching the third upgraded version, moving towards high-quality development. The对接between ASEAN and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) started in 2023. 2024 marks the beginning of building a cooperative framework between ASEAN and GCC, unveiling a new chapter for multi-dimensional cooperation.
Meanwhile, this summit provided a coordinated platform and opportunity to simultaneously advance three transformative development strategies: China's Belt and Road Initiative, the ASEAN Connectivity Master Plan 2025, and the GCC's Vision 2030. Combined, these three initiatives are reshaping the global economic landscape.
Group photo of leaders at the ASEAN-China-GCC Summit
As the manufacturing hub and emerging consumer market with 670 million people, ASEAN represents ten Southeast Asian countries. The GCC, composed of Arab Gulf States such as the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, is an affluent economy with vast energy reserves and sovereign wealth funds, rapidly achieving economic diversification. As the second-largest economy in the world, China possesses unparalleled industrial capacity across the entire supply chain and technological innovation advantages. Overall, this is a complementary pairing of strengths. With a combined economic output of $24.87 trillion, this tripartite alliance's strength is no less than that of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the European Economic Area (EEA), or the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
As the current ASEAN Chairmanship country, Malaysia's thoughtful invitation to China and the GCC for this meeting is indeed a bold move toward expanding ASEAN-China cooperation. If described as indirectly adding the finishing touch to the Belt and Road Initiative, it would not be an exaggeration. Beyond deepening the "five connectivities" of the Belt and Road Initiative and enhancing cross-domain supply chain resilience, more importantly, it has also forged an "energy security" chain for China and ASEAN, connecting multiple production nodes along the maritime oil and gas transport route from the Gulf to China's ports, providing ample supplies.
From Malaysia's own perspective, the timing of this summit coinciding with the anniversary of Malaysia-China diplomatic relations may be coincidental or intentional. What matters most is that it undoubtedly provides the best gift for elevating Sino-Malaysian relations. This arrangement is another pioneering initiative following Malaysia's first invitation to China to attend the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in 1991 when it served as the ASEAN Chair. That initial move by Malaysia laid the groundwork for dialogue relations between China and ASEAN and paved the way for future comprehensive strategic partnerships.
Evidently, Malaysia has consistently shown goodwill at critical moments in managing its relations with China. However, this does not equate to Western media portrayals of "taking sides" or tilting toward China. In fact, these biased narratives rooted in zero-sum thinking deliberately overlook objective facts—namely, the U.S. remains the primary source of foreign investment for Malaysia and ASEAN. Malaysia has always valued its economic ties with countries like the U.S. and China equally but has consistently maintained clear autonomy in its diplomatic relations. There is no need for the U.S. to overinterpret this as an "anti-American" signal. On the contrary, as a former rule-setter and guardian of the global free trade system, the U.S. should approach any alignment with confidence and magnanimity to jointly safeguard multilateralism.
Take ASEAN as an example; both China and the U.S. are comprehensive strategic partners of ASEAN, each having vast spaces to lead their partners in opening up new horizons for multilateral cooperation. In 2022, the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" created by U.S. President Biden saw all ASEAN member states except Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos invited to participate. This fully demonstrates ASEAN's stance of not choosing sides, embracing the Belt and Road Initiative while not resisting the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
However, by February 2024, when the first protocol of the "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework"—the "Supply Chain Agreement"—officially came into effect, what was presented to the world was merely an exclusionary agreement lacking alternative supply chains. The U.S. openly stated its intention to urge its allies not to overly rely on China's supply chains; yet, the actual solution amounted to a crisis response mechanism, offering mere lip service.
In stark contrast, the recently released "China-ASEAN Free Trade Area Agreement" 3.0 version (CAFTA 3.0) is poised for implementation. Under the main axis of "sustainable development," digital economy and green energy development have become new focal points for deepening efforts, and it can be foreseen that bilateral trade will steadily advance toward high-quality development.
With the increasing popularity of the digital economy in ASEAN, its development potential continues to be highly regarded. It is expected that by 2030, its output value will reach one trillion U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, industries such as new energy vehicles, photovoltaic panels, and new energy vehicle batteries under green energy development have opened up new opportunities for green investments in several ASEAN countries. Key mineral extraction in Southeast Asia has become a new darling attracting green investments. According to ASEAN's statistical forecast, by 2050, green energy development will bring ASEAN an additional GDP increase of 3 to 5.3 trillion U.S. dollars.
This newly emerging engine of economic development, coupled with the continuous optimization of the terms of the free trade zone agreements, such as consumer protection and competition clauses, brings the long-awaited sense of gain rather than anxiety and uncertainty caused by disordered tariffs to the entire China-ASEAN cooperation body. This is precisely the backbone that the China-ASEAN cooperation body can rely on to attract GCC member states.
Looking back at this trilateral summit, on one hand, it has initiated new opportunities for cooperation among countries in the Global South; on the other hand, from the perspective of "Belt and Road" connectivity, it has indeed set a precedent for integrating regional organizations representing different economic interests.
What is worth looking forward to is that if this new combination can fully leverage its complementarity, it will not be difficult to evolve into another Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), adding bricks to the westward extension of the China-ASEAN cooperation body. This will undoubtedly make the realization of inclusive and sustainable economic integration a reality in the near future.
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