The inaugural ASEAN-GCC-China Summit underscored the importance of cross-regional cooperation

Editor's note: Yu Hong, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a senior research fellow of the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

On May 27, 2025, the first ASEAN-GCC-China Summit took place in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, bringing together all the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, and six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (CCG) – including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. Building on long-standing historical and civilizational ties, the summit marked an important step toward strengthening cooperation across regions, particularly in energy, trade, and investment, that is widely expected to inject fresh momentum into global economic growth.

China, ASEAN and GCC countries have a combined population of more than 2.1 billion, accounting for about a quarter of the world's population. The total economic volume of these countries has reached $24.87 trillion annually, accounting for more than 25 percent of the global economy. In addition, the foreign trade volume of ASEAN, GCC member states and China accounts for about a quarter of the total global merchandise trade. In short, this force has significant weight in the global economy and governance system, and thus the potential for trilateral cooperation cannot be underestimated.

The trilateral partnership is also premised on a relatively strong complementary motivation for cooperation as the three sides bring their unique advantages in terms of resources, markets and technologies. ASEAN is an emerging manufacturing hub and has a potentially huge consumer market of nearly 700 million people, almost nine percent of the world population. GCC countries enjoy large energy reserves, and large sovereign wealth funds for investment abroad, and are accelerating the diversification of their economies. As for China, the world's second-largest economy and foremost goods trading country, it boasts unrivalled expertise in powerful industrial capacity, technological innovation and efficient infrastructure.

The combined influence of China, ASEAN and the GCC in the global economy and trade, therefore, provides a huge space for cooperation between the three parties for facilitating market integration, technological innovation, and cross-regional trade and investment.

In the face of an increasingly fragmented world and severe challenges to the rules-based global free trade, deepening the partnership between ASEAN, GCC members and China is important and timely as regards strengthening cross-regional economic ties, their own economic resilience, and the sustainable development of the regions.

To better unleash the potential, ASEAN, China and GCC countries can together chart a unified and collective path towards a peaceful, prosperous, and just future by strengthening regional connectivity and establishing institutional frameworks, jointly enhancing cross-regional development resilience through economies of scale, and exploring more growth points in emerging areas for cooperation. The ASEAN countries, GCC members and China together can promote sustainable infrastructure financing and project construction, create a stable and reliable energy market, and strengthen the resilience of industrial and supply chains. In addition, ASEAN, China and GCC countries can explore new models to better use and develop renewable energy and create more opportunities for cooperation in emerging and future industries such as artificial intelligence and the digital economy.

For ASEAN countries, whose economic development depends on foreign trade and investment, it is imperative to uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system in order to withstand the challenges posed by external uncertainties. For ASEAN to thrive and increase its influence in the world, it is of pressing importance to not only deepen ties with existing partners like China, but also to forge economic partnerships with other countries and regions, such as the GCC. That being said, the convening of this summit is both a reflection of the determination of ASEAN countries to strengthen regional partnerships and the trend of building a multi-polar global system.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim noted in his opening remarks on May 27 that the cooperation between ASEAN, the GCC and China will provide a huge space for market integration and cross-regional investment, and the first trilateral summit will become an important chapter in ASEAN's foreign cooperation. In other words, the convening of the first ASEAN-GCC-China Summit will not only help ASEAN in its journey of outward-looking engagement, but also demonstrate that ASEAN countries remain committed to upholding multilateralism.

The Joint Statement of the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit, which was released on May 28, serves as a resounding pledge, which needs to be followed up with more concrete action plans and details of cooperation initiatives in the near future. Facing all the internal and external headwinds such as domestic economic slowdown, lack of economic diversification, geopolitical competition among great powers, and political-security conflicts in the regions, it would be a challenging task to shape the cross-regional market into an open and free market for economic and trade cooperation. Nevertheless, it will also require joint efforts by the ASEAN countries, China and GCC members. And the convening of the first trilateral summit is a concrete and concerted step towards this end.

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