OFFICIAL PORTAL
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS MALAYSIA
JOINT STATEMENT
SUMMIT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN),
THE COOPERATION COUNCIL FOR THE ARAB STATES OF THE GULF (GCC),
AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
(ASEAN-GCC-CHINA SUMMIT)
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA 27 MAY 2025
WE, the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), and the People's Republic of China, gathered on the occasion of the ASEAN-GCC-China Summit on 27 May 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
This has bizarrely received almost zero coverage in Western media but it's actually an absolutely massive deal.
China, the countries of South-East Asia (ASEAN) and the Arab
states (GCC) just held a summit in Kuala Lumpur to forge what could become the world's largest economic bloc, covering everything from free trade agreements and de-dollarization to Belt-and-Road connectivity.
China has learnt the economic folly of turning inwards and cutting herself off from the outside world which started during the Ming dynasty under the Hongwu Emperor and which culminated during the Qing dynasty under the Qianlong Emperor. Now, she is reaching out to cooperate with every country in the world with a vengeance to recapture past prosperity.
Gulf states, China take centre stage at summit of Southeast Asian nations
GCC, China, ASEAN countries pledged to promote trade and work to ‘unleash the full potential of our partnership’.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed to “chart a unified and collective path towards a peaceful, prosperous, and just future”, following their meeting in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.
In a world roiled by United States President Donald Trump’s threats of crippling tariffs and rising economic uncertainties, alternative centres of global power were on full display, with the GCC and China attending the ASEAN summit for the group’s inaugural trilateral meeting on Tuesday (27 May, 2025).
In their joint statement released on Wednesday, the GCC – comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – China, and ASEAN members Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar said they were committed to enhancing economic cooperation.
Chief among that cooperation will be the promotion of free trade, the signatories said, adding they looked “forward to the early completion of the GCC-China Free Trade Agreement negotiations” and the upgrading of the ASEAN-China free trade area.
“We reaffirm our collective resolve to work hand in hand to unleash the full potential of our partnership, and ensure that our cooperation translates into tangible benefits for our peoples and societies,” they said.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim – whose country is currently chair of ASEAN and hosted the summits – told a news conference that the US remains an important market while also noting that ASEAN, the GCC, and China collectively represent a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $24.87 trillion with a total population of about 2.15 billion.
“This collective scale offers vast opportunities to synergise our markets, deepen innovation, and promote cross-regional investment,” Anwar said.
The prime minister went on to dismiss suggestions that the ASEAN bloc of nations was leaning excessively towards China, stressing that the regional grouping remained committed to maintaining balanced engagement with all major powers, including the US.
James Chin, professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia, said that the tripartite meeting was particularly important for China, which is being “given a platform where the US is not around”.
ASEAN and the GCC “already view China as a global power”, Chin said.
‘The Gulf is very rich, ASEAN is a tiger, China…’
China’s Premier Li Qiang, who attended the summit, said Beijing was ready to work with the GCC and ASEAN “on the basis of mutual respect and equality”.
China will work with “ASEAN and the GCC to strengthen the alignment of development strategies, increase macro policy coordination, and deepen collaboration on industrial specialisation,” he said.
Former Malaysian ambassador to the US Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz said China was “quickly filling up the vacuum” in global leadership felt in many countries in the aftermath of Trump’s tariff threats.
US still ASEAN’s biggest export market
Even as China’s trade with ASEAN grows, economist say, the US still remains a huge market for regional countries.
In early 2024, the US took over China as ASEAN’s largest export market, with 15 percent of the bloc’s exports destined for its markets, up nearly 4 percent since 2018, said Carmelo Ferlito, CEO of the Center for Market Education (CME), a think tank based in Malaysia and Indonesia.
“The US is also the largest source of cumulative foreign direct investment in ASEAN, with total stock reaching nearly $480bn in 2023 – almost double the combined US investments in China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan,” Ferlito said.
Israel’s war on Gaza was also highlighted at the ASEAN-GCC-China meeting on Tuesday.
Delegates condemned attacks against civilians and called for a durable ceasefire and unhindered delivery of fuel, food, essential services, and medicine throughout the Palestinian territory.
Supporting a two-state solution to the conflict, the joint communique also called for the release of captives and arbitrarily-detained people, and an end to the “illegal presence of the State of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory as soon as possible”.
The civil war in Myanmar was also a focus of the talks among ASEAN members at their summit on Tuesday, who called for an extension and expansion of a ceasefire among the warring sides, which was declared following the earthquake that struck the country in March. The ceasefire is due to run out by the end of May. However, human rights groups have documented repeated air attacks by the military regime on the country’s civilian population despite the purported temporary cessation of fighting.
Zachary Abuza, professor of Southeast Asia politics and security issues at the Washington-based National War College, said that while Prime Minister Anwar may be “more proactive” – in his role as ASEAN chair – in wanting to resolve the conflict, Myanmar’s military rulers were “not a good faith actor” in peace talks.
“The military has absolutely no interest in anything resembling a power-sharing agreement,” he said.
China's Xi Jinping has rallied south-east Asian nations against Donald Trump's trade war, uniting them against what he calls 'unilateral bullying' by the U.S. So, did he succeed in winning support against America's sweeping tariffs?
China reiterates there are no winners in a trade war ,rejecting trade levies imposed by American leader Donald Trump. Well this comes after a US federal court ruled against the president's sweeping tariffs preventing them from taking effect.
Now a three judge panel at the Court of International Trade made the decision after two lawsuits by businesses and state officials argued that Mr Trump's tariffs are illegal. Well, the court says an emergency law invoked by the White House does not give the president unilateral authority to impose tariffs on nearly every country. Well, the Trump administration has since filed an appeal and said it could take the case all the way to the Supreme Court, if needed. The ruling which applies to separate tariffs applied on goods from around the world marks one of the biggest setbacks for Mr Trump amid a flurry of lawsuits over his executive orders. All right and now for a look at the markets. Now, how are Asian policy makers, especially the export oriented economies Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, how are they likely to adjust their trade negotiation strategies in response to the legal setback for Trump's tariffs. Well, I mean if you first look at the market performance and definitely everyone is more optimistic about the short-term prospect because of this lower risk in growth and also inflation. But however, in terms of negotiation, it wil basically means a change in the tactics that countries may have. Because what the US has previously is really this big bargaining chip in tariff and especially a lot of Asian countries, they do rely very strongly on the US end demand but at the same time the China mediate input as well. So, I think what we see in the US in terms of the legal challenge basically means that the US may not be able to implement that wide range of tariff after all. So it means that all the other governments may actually adopt a more wait and see approach, to see what the US will actually do. And that basically means that it may actually delay the negotiation process or any potential deal, in order to achieve the best outcome. So the risk sentiment in the markets appears to be improving. Which sectors within the Asian equity markets do you think showed the strongest and weakest performance following the US court ruling. Well, l do think that if you first look on the surface right, the equity investors are basically quite happy and then it basically means that those sectors or countries exposed more to the US demand will actually eventually benefit more or at least in the short run. So when you look at the tax sector, when you look at countries like Japan, those are really the one that has a relatively big exposure to the US but are kind of stuck in a way that is not really a deal, like the UK. etc. So, l mean these countries or this market are likely to benefit in the short run. However, there is really no certainty about how the whole things will play out because this is really one legal challenge that we are seeing here and there is no guarantee that it may not actually come back to us, to much worse scenario than where we are right now. What is your forecast for Asian currencies over the next quarter, given the changing dynamics of this US trade policy. Well, I think one biggest difference versus where we were last week is really about this lower inflation pressure that the US may have which basically means that the US interest rate may not be actually as high as it is. So, therefore I think to that sense, it basically means that the risk sentiment towards the US assets or the worries on policy risk may actually dial back slightly in the short run, which may result in a slightly stronger dollar. So, therefore in the short run, it is likely to see some depreciation pressure in the Asian currency. Because of this renewed strength in the US dollar and also about this much less pressure that the US may implement or press Asia countries to depreciate or appreciate their currency. So I think this is pretty much what we will see in the short run. However, in the long run, it really depends on where the investors will actually still lose the confidence in the US assets and then basically switch to allI the other Asian currencies. This really depends on the upcoming response by the Trump administration. And let's talk about the bond markets in Asia. Are they reacting to investor flows, yield expectations and what sort of signals are central banks giving in response to easing trade tensions. Well, l do think that the biggest move that we see is really about the lower general interest rate across the board. It is not only the US, it is also about all the other Asian market simply because investors are actually dialing back the inflation expectation. If there is no tariff, then the basically, the inflation may not be actually as high as before and therefore bond yield will not be as high as well. So this is pretty much the scenario that we see right now. And for central banks, this is really good news because one worry that many Asian central banks may have in mind is that if US at the Fed cannot really cut interest rate, if Asian central banks actually cut, then that wider interest rate gap may actually result in some capital outflows eventually. But this time around, if because we see this portion in the tariff, this narrowed yield differential is actually beneficial for central banks in Asia to cut rates furthest to support growth. The ruling has blown a hole in Washington's trade talks underway with more than a dozen nations that began after levies were imposed. And it also throws into question recent agreements with the UK and China. Right now, you know if these tariff threats are no longer legal in the US, then that urgency in coming to the negotiating table and hammering out an agreement, that urgency does not really exist. But there are exceptions for this. You look at markets like Taiwan and South Korea, for example, who are big exporters of electronics automotives. But experts remain cautious that the worst is over, as this adds to the uncertainty about US policy. They say this trade uncertainty is toxic to investment and economic growth and would drive chief executives and policy makers to put off major decisions. The White House has announced it would appeal the court's ruling which currently has 10 days to halt the tariffs. But if the past months have been indicative of anything, it is that nothing is set in stone. What to look out for in the coming days ahead. The main thing to watch right now is what is going to happen in the next couple of days, couple of weeks regarding whether the Trump administration again will be able to stay this ruling, whether it will be allowed to continue to collect tariff duties as the appeals process continues. But beyond that I think we need to remember that the US's trade grievances with markets like China, but also Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, they go beyond tariffs. They go into structural imbalances as they go to grievances around the currency. And it seems that even if the Trump administration concedes on it's push for tariffs, there are still other sources of grievances. The reciprocal tariffs and the sectoral tariffs will have to be removed. Maybe then we will have to go down through a different approach. You may recall back in 2018, the process was generally a lot slower that Trump would announce a review. Then after you know, several months the tariffs were imposed but they were imposed using a different power to do that. So the same thing could happen again.
官方门户网站
马来西亚外交部
联合声明
东南亚国家联盟（东盟）、海湾阿拉伯国家合作委员会（海合会）和中华人民共和国领导人峰会
（东盟-海合会-中国峰会）
2025年5月27日，马来西亚吉隆坡
我们，东南亚国家联盟（东盟）、海湾阿拉伯国家合作委员会（海合会）成员国和中华人民共和国，于2025年5月27日在马来西亚吉隆坡齐聚一堂，举行东盟-海合会-中国峰会；
奇怪的是，西方媒体几乎没有报道此事，但这实际上意义重大。
中国、东南亚国家联盟（东盟）和阿拉伯国家合作委员会（海合会）刚刚在吉隆坡举行峰会，旨在打造一个可能成为世界最大经济集团的经济体，涵盖从自由贸易协定、去美元化到“一带一路”互联互通等方方面面。
中国从明朝洪武年间开始，到清朝乾隆年间达到顶峰，深刻体会到闭关锁国、与外界隔绝的经济弊端。如今，中国正积极与世界各国合作，力图重现昔日的繁荣景象。
海湾国家和中国在东南亚国家峰会上成为焦点
海合会、中国和东盟国家承诺促进贸易，并努力“充分释放我们伙伴关系的潜力”。
海湾合作委员会（GCC）、中国和东南亚国家联盟（ASEAN）十个成员国在马来西亚首都吉隆坡举行会晤后，一致同意“共同规划一条通往和平、繁荣和公正未来的统一道路”。
在美国总统唐纳德·特朗普威胁征收高额关税、经济不确定性不断上升的全球动荡局势下，全球力量的替代中心正在充分展现。周二（2025年5月27日），海湾合作委员会和中国出席了东盟峰会，举行了该组织首次三边会议。
周三发表的联合声明中，海湾合作委员会（由巴林、科威特、阿曼、卡塔尔、沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国组成）、中国以及东盟成员国印度尼西亚、新加坡、马来西亚、泰国、越南、菲律宾、文莱、柬埔寨、老挝和缅甸表示，他们致力于加强经济合作。
签署国表示，其中最重要的合作将是促进自由贸易，并期待“早日完成海合会-中国自由贸易协定谈判”，并升级东盟-中国自由贸易区。
签署国表示：“我们重申共同决心，携手努力，充分释放我们伙伴关系的潜力，并确保我们的合作转化为造福于我们各国人民和社会的实实在在的利益。”
2025年5月27日，东盟和海合会成员国在马来西亚吉隆坡会议中心出席第二届东盟-海合会峰会时携手合影。
马来西亚现任东盟主席国兼本次峰会的东道主——马来西亚总理安瓦尔·易卜拉欣在新闻发布会上表示，美国仍然是一个重要的市场，同时指出，东盟、海合会和中国三国的国内生产总值（GDP）总和达24.87万亿美元，总人口约21.5亿。
安瓦尔表示：“这种规模的集体合作为协同我们的市场、深化创新和促进跨区域投资提供了巨大的机遇。”
总理驳斥了东盟国家过度倾向于中国的说法，并强调东盟仍然致力于与包括美国在内的所有主要大国保持平衡的互动。
澳大利亚塔斯马尼亚大学亚洲研究教授詹姆斯·陈表示，此次三方会议对中国尤为重要，因为中国“获得了一个没有美国参与的平台”。
陈表示，东盟和海湾合作委员会“已经将中国视为全球大国”。
“海湾地区非常富饶，东盟是一只老虎，中国……”
出席峰会的中国国务院总理李强表示，北京方面准备“在相互尊重和平等的基础上”与海湾合作委员会和东盟开展合作。
他说，中国将与“东盟和海湾合作委员会加强发展战略对接，增进宏观政策协调，深化产业分工合作”。
马来西亚前驻美国大使穆罕默德·纳兹里·本·阿卜杜勒·阿齐兹表示，特朗普发出关税威胁后，许多国家在全球领导力方面出现了真空，而中国正在“迅速填补这一真空”。
美国仍是东盟最大的出口市场
经济学家表示，即使中国与东盟的贸易额不断增长，美国仍然是该地区国家的巨大市场。
设在马来西亚和印度尼西亚的智库市场教育中心 (CME) 首席执行官卡梅洛·费利托表示，2024 年初，美国将取代中国成为东盟最大的出口市场，东盟 15% 的出口销往美国市场，自 2018 年以来增长了近 4%。
费利托表示：“美国也是东盟累计外国直接投资的最大来源国，2023 年总投资额接近 4800 亿美元，几乎是美国在中国、日本、韩国和台湾地区投资总额的两倍。”
周二举行的东盟-海湾合作委员会-中国会议上，以色列对加沙的战争也成为焦点。
与会代表谴责针对平民的袭击，并呼吁实现持久停火，并向巴勒斯坦全境畅通无阻地运送燃料、食品、基本服务和药品。
联合公报支持以两国方案解决冲突，并呼吁释放俘虏和被任意拘留的人员，并“尽快结束以色列国在被占领巴勒斯坦领土的非法存在”。
缅甸内战也是东盟成员国周二峰会会谈的焦点，各方呼吁延长并扩大交战双方在3月缅甸发生地震后宣布的停火协议。停火协议将于5月底到期。然而，人权组织记录到，尽管缅甸军政府声称暂时停火，但军政府仍多次对缅甸平民发动空袭。
华盛顿国家战争学院东南亚政治与安全问题教授扎卡里·阿布扎表示，尽管安瓦尔总理作为东盟主席国可能“更积极主动”地希望解决冲突，但缅甸军政府在和平谈判中“并非一个有诚意的参与者”。
他说：“军方对任何类似权力分享协议的事情毫无兴趣。”
中国国家主席习近平号召东南亚国家反对唐纳德·特朗普的贸易战，团结他们共同对抗他所谓的美国“单边欺凌”。那么，他是否成功赢得反对美国全面关税的支持？
中国重申贸易战没有赢家，拒绝美国领导人唐纳德·特朗普征收的贸易税。此前，美国联邦法院裁定总统的全面关税无效，阻止其生效。
目前，在企业和州政府官员提起两起诉讼，认为特朗普的关税非法之后，国际贸易法院的三位法官小组做出了这一裁决。法院表示，白宫援引的紧急状态法并不赋予总统单方面对几乎所有国家征收关税的权力。 嗯，特朗普政府已经提起上诉，并表示如果需要的话，可以将此案一直上诉到最高法院。这项适用于对来自世界各地的商品征收单独关税的裁决，标志着特朗普在其行政命令引发的一系列诉讼中遭遇的最大挫折之一。好了，现在来看看市场。现在，亚洲政策制定者，特别是出口导向型经济体日本、韩国、中国、越南，他们可能如何调整贸易谈判策略以应对特朗普关税带来的法律挫折。嗯，我的意思是，如果你首先看一下市场表现，肯定会发现每个人都对短期前景更为乐观，因为增长和通胀风险较低。但是，就谈判而言，这基本上意味着各国可能采取的策略发生改变。 因为美国之前在关税上确实拥有很大的筹码，尤其是许多亚洲国家，他们非常依赖美国的最终需求，但同时也依赖中国的中介投入。所以，我认为我们在美国看到的法律挑战基本上意味着美国最终可能无法实施如此广泛的关税。这意味着所有其他国家的政府实际上可能会采取更加观望的态度，看看美国实际上会做什么。这基本上意味着它实际上可能会推迟谈判进程或任何潜在协议，以取得最佳结果。因此，市场的风险情绪似乎正在改善。在美国法院裁决之后，您认为亚洲股市中哪些板块表现最强和最弱。嗯，我认为，如果你首先从表面上看，股票投资者基本上都很高兴，那么这基本上意味着那些更多地受到美国需求影响的行业或国家最终将受益更多，至少在短期内是这样。
所以当你看税收领域，当你看像日本这样的国家时，它们实际上是对美国有较大敞口的国家，但却陷入了某种程度的困境，就像英国等一样。所以，我的意思是这些国家或这个市场可能在短期内受益。然而，整个事情将如何发展真的没有确定性，因为我们在这里看到的实际上是一个法律挑战，而且不能保证它不会回到我们身上，情况会比现在糟糕得多。鉴于美国贸易政策的变化，您对下一季度亚洲货币的预测是什么？嗯，我认为与上周相比，最大的不同是美国可能面临的较低通胀压力，这基本上意味着美国利率可能没有现在那么高。 因此，我认为从这个意义上讲，这基本上意味着对美国资产的风险情绪或对政策风险的担忧实际上可能在短期内略有回落，这可能导致美元略有走强。因此，短期内，亚洲货币可能会面临一些贬值压力。由于美元重新走强，以及美国可能对亚洲国家施加的压力大大减少，使其货币贬值或升值。所以我认为这基本上就是我们在短期内会看到的情况。然而，从长远来看，这实际上取决于投资者实际上会在哪些方面失去对美国资产的信心，然后基本上转向所有其他亚洲货币。这实际上取决于特朗普政府即将做出的反应。我们来谈谈亚洲债券市场。它们是否对投资者流动、收益率预期以及央行为缓解贸易紧张局势发出什么样的信号做出反应。 嗯，我确实认为我们看到的最大举措实际上是全面降低总体利率。不仅是美国，其他亚洲市场也是如此，因为投资者实际上正在降低通胀预期。如果没有关税，那么通胀实际上可能不会像以前那么高，因此债券收益率也不会那么高。所以这就是我们现在看到的情况。对各国央行来说，这确实是个好消息，因为许多亚洲央行可能担心的一个问题是，如果美联储不能真正降息，如果亚洲各国央行真的降息，那么更大的利差最终可能导致一些资本外流。但这一次，由于我们看到关税中的这部分，收益率差距缩小实际上有利于亚洲各国央行最大限度地降息以支持增长。 这一裁决给华盛顿与十多个国家在关税实施后开始的贸易谈判造成了重大打击。裁决也使最近与英国和中国达成的协议受到质疑。现在，如果这些关税威胁在美国不再合法，那么坐到谈判桌前达成协议的紧迫性就不存在了。但也有例外。比如台湾和韩国，它们是汽车电子产品出口大国。但专家们仍然谨慎地认为，最糟糕的时期已经过去，因为这增加了美国政策的不确定性。他们表示，这种贸易不确定性对投资和经济增长有害，并将迫使首席执行官和政策制定者推迟重大决策。白宫已宣布将对法院的裁决提出上诉，目前该裁决有10天的时间来暂停关税。但如果过去几个月的情况说明了什么，那就是一切都还不是一成不变的。 未来几天需要关注什么。现在主要需要关注的是未来几天或几周内特朗普政府是否能够再次维持这一裁决，以及在上诉程序继续进行时是否会被允许继续征收关税。但除此之外，我认为我们需要记住，美国与中国、越南、日本、韩国、台湾等市场的贸易不满不仅仅是关税问题。它们引发了结构性失衡，例如围绕货币的不满。而且看起来，即使特朗普政府放弃推动征收关税，仍然存在其他的不满根源。互惠关税和部门关税必须取消。也许那时我们将不得不通过不同的方法来解决这个问题。你可能还记得，2018年，这个过程总体上要慢得多，特朗普才会宣布审查。你知道，几个月后，关税才被征收，但征收时使用了不同的权力。所以同样的事情可能会再次发生。
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