00:00And for more insights earlier, my colleague Juliet Mann spoke to Doris Liu, an economist who specializes in South Asian development.
00:08I see that it's like a counterbalance against the United States because Trump has imposed his tariffs globally, in fact, and specifically targeting China.
00:19And China will see Southeast Asia as a low hanging fruit to assert its influence.
00:24And in fact, Southeast Asia has received a lot of investment in trade from China in the recent years.
00:32So we see China is using Southeast Asia to anchor US rights and expand its field of influence.
00:38So you're saying the message coming out of these talks is geopolitical rather than economical, or is it a bit of both?
00:45For ASEAN, the stance appears to be economical because China is one of the largest trade partners.
00:51And it seems to be quite strategic for ASEAN to be closer, aligned with China to get more trade and investment opportunities.
01:00For China itself, however, the intention seems to be a bit more geopolitical.
01:07Of course, also empowering geoeconomics to a certain extent.
01:12But ultimately, right now, it's about the rise of China encountering the US narrative.
01:19So I think China is using this as an opportunity to assert its influence.
01:24And we see China is a little bit different from the US in terms of its approach,
01:29that China use a lot of economic and trade as a way to assert its influence by building infrastructure,
01:37by putting up investments, and so on and so forth.
01:40Yes.
01:41It is, though, the first ever three-way summit with the 10-member regional bloc and China and the GCC Gulf states.
01:48I mean, there's strength in tech, in energy, in security there.
01:52So where do you see the synergies between those three blocs coming together?
01:59I see the GCC itself is not something new.
02:03Since the beginning of ASEAN chairmanship for Malaysia this year,
02:08actually, the ASEAN-GCC free trade agreement has been in discussion for about almost half a year right now.
02:15And now it is accelerating that process to formalize it into a free trade agreement.
02:20And GCC countries, the Gulf countries, they have been trying to diversify away from oil and natural resources-based economy.
02:29And Southeast Asia is a region that is very attractive to them.
02:33And it's a new region, new trade areas that could benefit both regions.
02:38Now, both President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Chang have traveled to Southeast Asia in recent weeks.
02:44What would you say this high level of diplomacy signals about China's broader strategy in the region?
02:52China wants to tilt Southeast Asia towards its sphere of influence rather than the U.S.
03:03And we've seen that in the past, we've seen some fragmentation between different ASEAN member states,
03:09like Vietnam and Philippines, who are more aligned with the U.S.
03:13because of the trade and because of geopolitical implication and security issues with China.
03:18And that's why they are tilting towards the U.S.
03:21But with the terror in place, I see China as trying to mend the relationship.
