Anwar’s Asean summit risks Trump’s ire as Malaysia courts China, Gulf bloc

Malaysia risks antagonising the new US administration with a push to deepen Southeast Asia’s trade links with Gulf nations and China as counterweight to the uncertainty kicked up by Donald Trump’s return to the White House, experts have warned.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Monday said Malaysia will host a joint summit in May with China, Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The grouping includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, collectively the world’s ninth-largest economies valued at US$2 trillion, according to the GCC data.

As Asean chair, Anwar said the bloc must expand beyond its traditional partners but the summit “is not about choosing sides”.

“Rather, it is about ensuring Asean’s strategic relevance in a multipolar world,” he said at a conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Anwar’s drive to bolster an emerging trade alliance which spans China’s massive economy, Asean and the GCC showed how he intended to get on the front foot as chair of the 10-member bloc, said Sam Baron, a research fellow at Japan’s Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies.