Published 22 Jul 2025

Author: Kuik Cheng-Chwee

Malaysia’s initiative to establish the ASEAN-GCC-China summit underscores a long-standing desire to connect past and present.

The inaugural ASEAN-GCC-China Summit was held on 27 May 2025 in Kuala Lumpur. The Summit, one of the signature initiatives pushed by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2025, marked the first step of the institutionalisation of the trilateral, cross-regional forum between the ten-member (soon to be eleven-member) ASEAN, the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates), and China. The meeting attracted extensive media coverage.

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The article was published by ISEAS.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position or view of IRSEA