ASEAN’s New Balancing Act: China, the Gulf, and the Future of Integration
“Among the [46th ASEAN] Summit’s outcomes was the creation of the ASEAN Geoeconomics Task Force—an advisory body for strategic policy guidance amid increasing global fragmentation. This reflects ASEAN’s proactive shift toward analytical foresight, ensuring policy coordination across sectors in response to escalating geopolitical and geoeconomic pressures.”
“On the energy integration front, the Summit advanced its plans for the enhanced ASEAN Power Grid (APG), endorsing a subsea power cable development framework. These efforts signal ASEAN’s commitment to cross-border connectivity and decarbonisation—a critical component in its long-term sustainability agenda.”
“In this context, the trilateral summit of 18 countries represents a hedging mechanism: ASEAN’s efforts to solidify ties with China, its largest trading partner, and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a bloc flush with sovereign wealth. ASEAN-GCC-China trade breached US$ 900 billion in 2024, nearly doubling its trade volume with the US. This trend underscores a larger strategic realignment in global supply chains and trade relations. The GCC is ASEAN’s seventh-largest trade partner, with trade of US$130.7 billion in 2023; the six Gulf states accounted for around 3.5 percent of ASEAN’s trade in 2023, compared to 20 percent for China.”