Anwar promotes Asean as gateway on third visit to China, ahead of Malaysia’s chairmanship of group

KUALA LUMPUR/BEIJING – Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has sought to push Asean as China’s gateway to wider markets and influence on his third visit to China since taking office, in preparation for Malaysia’s chairmanship of the regional grouping in 2025.

During the visit from November 4 to 7, Datuk Seri Anwar held a bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Shanghai, where he also attended the China International Import Expo.

Mr Anwar also paid a courtesy call on Chinese President Xi Jinping, who hosted a state dinner for him in Beijing.

Backbencher Lee Chean Chung, who was part of Mr Anwar’s entourage, observed that this third trip to China was different from the leader’s previous visits in March and September 2023.

“We (Malaysia) are coming to China as the incoming Asean chairman… Under the circumstances of the China-US trade war and the decoupling of global supply chains, China needs friends. Asean-China is an important bloc for Beijing to have a mutual friendly relationship,” the communications director for Mr Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat told The Straits Times.

The 10-member regional grouping is China’s largest trading partner, overtaking the European Union in 2020. In 2023, bilateral trade between Beijing and Asean amounted to US$468.8 billion (S$619 billion), up 10.5 per cent from the previous year. And China continues to maintain a trade surplus with Asean, of US$97.6 billion in 2023.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, is also a key investor in Malaysia, with direct investment of US$1.48 billion in the South-east nation country in the first eight months of 2024, a 13.2 per cent increase from the same period a year ago.

Mr Anwar’s visit was also timely, given president-elect Donald Trump’s recent triumph in the US presidential election, said Assistant Professor Tan Chee Meng, a China expert at University of Nottingham Malaysia.

“The US might become increasingly isolationist and that might imply that China’s engagement with Asean countries would rise... Anwar’s trips to Beijing may not be in vain,” Mr Tan told ST, noting the positive developments that could result from engaging with China.

During Mr Anwar’s courtesy call, Mr Xi said that China supports Malaysia in assuming the chairmanship of Asean next year, as well as the grouping’s centrality and strategic independence to maintain regional cooperation in development.

During his visit, Mr Anwar met in Beijing and Shanghai with public- and private-sector representatives from various industries including Bank of China, China Investment Corporation, and tech giant Huawei.

“Kuala Lumpur likely hopes for greater investment from China to boost Malaysia’s foreign direct investment and stimulate the nation’s economy through warmer ties with China… while China seeks ‘friends’ in its ‘backyard’ among Asean countries amid the (US-China) trade war and geopolitical tensions,” said Assistant Professor Tan.

The personal bond between Mr Anwar and Mr Li is believed to have played a part in this latest visit.

“Li Qiang extended a personal invitation to Anwar (to visit China ) during the October 2024 Asean Summit in Laos,” said Mr Lee. “Both have established an extraordinary relationship, with Anwar referring to the Chinese premier as a family friend on several occasions.”

Mr Anwar has also promoted Asean as a conduit through which China can foster closer ties with the Middle East. 

During the courtesy call in Beijing, Mr Anwar invited Mr Xi to attend the Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Kuala Lumpur in May 2025.

The six-nation GCC, which includes Saudi Arabia, held its inaugural joint summit with Asean in October 2023 in Riyadh. At that meeting, the summit participants agreed to enhance political and security dialogues, and cooperate on economic and energy supply issues under the Framework of Cooperation 2024-2028.

With Malaysia set to host the next Asean summit in 2025, Mr Anwar has proposed that the two groupings initiate negotiations for a free trade agreement.

Regarding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, both Asean and GCC have called for a ceasefire and a peaceful solution to the matter. This aligns with China’s stance, as Beijing steps up to rival Washington’s traditional role as a global mediator, having proposed peace talks to end the Israel-Palestine conflict. In July, China hosted talks between Palestinian rivals including Hamas and Fatah in Beijing. President Xi helped broker a March 2023 deal to end a diplomatic rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran, leaving the US on the sidelines.

Dr. Lam Choong Wah, a China expert in international and strategic studies at Universiti Malaya, said that Beijing views Malaysia as a key gateway to strengthening its relationship with the Islamic world.

“In the international community, Malaysia is a relatively neutral country that maintains good relations with most stakeholders, including the United States. China sees Malaysia as a strategic bridgehead to connect with both Asean and the Islamic world,” he said.

Despite these promising developments, the South China Sea territorial disputes continue to cast a shadow over Kuala Lumpur-Beijing, as well as Asean-China ties.

A Chinese academic specialising in South-east Asia issues told ST that the territorial disputes have been a thorn in bilateral relations since 2013, when China first began sending patrols around the contested Luconia Shoals.

The shoals lie within Malaysia’s exclusive economic zone but overlap with China’s extensive claims in the South China Sea.

The academic noted that Mr. Anwar has made public statements on several occasions, most recently in September, stating that Malaysia will not back down on its maritime claims.

“Anwar’s comments are not as acrimonious as those of Philippine or Indonesian leaders, and as he is a veteran politician, his statements are more measured. Nevertheless, it’s clear that on this issue, Malaysia and China have opposing interests,” the academic said, speaking anonymously as he was not authorised to comment publicly.

While bilateral economic ties and people-to-people relations have grown closer between the two countries, tensions remain on the security front. Malaysia is building a new naval base in Bintulu, scheduled to open in 2030. The base is intended to protect its oil and gas operations in the Luconia Shoals, located about 100km off the coast of Sarawak.

In October, Malaysia and China held their first bilateral dialogue on the South China Sea dispute in Langkawi.

The dialogue was co-chaired by Malaysia’s National Security Council Director-General Datuk Raja Nushirwan Zainal Abidin, who served Kuala Lumpur’s envoy to China from 2019 to 2023, and China’s Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong.

During a media conference in Beijing at the conclusion of his recent China trip, Mr Anwar said that conflict is not the way to resolve the South China Sea dispute.

“If there is any problem, we talk about it openly in a bilateral way. We use the Asean mechanism. It should not be a problem,” Mr Anwar said when asked about the South China Sea issue.