Unpacking China’s Offer to Southeast Asia and the Middle East

China's Premier Li Qiang delivers his speech during the ASEAN - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - China Economic Forum official dinner on May 27 2025. Photo by Vincent Thian / POOL / AFP

This week’s landmark meeting between China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is arguably one of the most notable international responses to the Trump administration’s attempts to remake the global trading system we’ve seen so far.

The gathering has followed several years of diplomatic engagement from China with both the ten countries of ASEAN and the six GCC members, two of the most important centers of global economic growth. However, so far, the focus has mostly fallen on the fact that the summit took place, with less attention paid to the core of the discussions. 

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by Cobus van Staden

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