At a briefing with local and foreign media on May 21, Anwar said ASEAN will discuss Timor-Leste’s potential membership, the Myanmar issue, improving intra-ASEAN trade, as well as economic collaboration amid the US tariffs.
Anwar was asked if ASEAN would continue its policy of maintaining good relationships with both the US and China, and if this position could be abused by either power to their advantage.
“As a trading nation, if we do not venture to new markets and build up that resilience nationally and also regionally, we will not win. So, that’s the most pragmatic decision we should make,” Anwar said, speaking for Malaysia.
“Domestically, we have problems with all our neighbours as a maritime country. And people say, ‘Oh, you’re being biased towards China, because you don’t seem to say that there are problems.’ I said we have problems with all our neighbours.”
While Anwar acknowledged Malaysia’s dependence on the US for trade and investment, he said he cannot accept a “tendency to dictate”.
Countries must be allowed to decide in their own interests and not be swayed by rivalries between major powers, he said, calling on ASEAN to engage “new partners” such as China, India, Pakistan, Russia and the European Union.
“It’s a call for assertiveness and independence,” Anwar added.
According to a draft statement expected to be issued by ASEAN leaders after they meet on Monday, the bloc will express “deep concern” over Trump’s tariff blitz, AFP reported on Friday.
Trump’s unilateral levies “pose complex and multidimensional challenges to ASEAN’s economic growth, stability, and integration”, the draft said.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM ASEAN-GCC-CHINA SUMMIT
Anwar first invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to join the ASEAN-GCC summit during his official visit to Shanghai and Beijing in November last year.
It was during that time that Trump emerged victorious in the US presidential election, with countries around the world already wary of how the US-China trade war might escalate regardless of who won.
“The plan to invite China to the second ASEAN-GCC summit was conceived before the US elections, in which Donald Trump won a landslide victory,” noted a December 2024 article by ThinkChina, a Singapore-based online magazine focused on China.
“The election results prompted these partners to expand their coordination. All three have varying degrees of uncertainty and concerns about future US policies.”
The first ASEAN-GCC summit took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2023, where both regional blocs outlined their five-year agenda and decided to hold a biennial summit, alternating between the GCC and ASEAN regions.
A joint statement from that summit agreed to “enhance trade and investment flows”, with a focus on areas like sustainable infrastructure, petrochemicals, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, connectivity and digitalisation.
Anwar said at the May 21 briefing that the GCC nations have good ties with both the US and China, and are “really focusing on ASEAN”.
“So, we thought that we should use this occasion to try and build up probably some projects that involve a few countries – sub-regional, if not regional. There is probably a fund, so that we can work together,” he said, without elaborating on what type of fund this would be.
