KUALA LUMPUR - Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-China-GCC (the Gulf Cooperation Council) Economic Forum 2025.
The following is the full text of the speech:
Speech by H.E. Li Qiang
Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China
At the Opening Ceremony of The ASEAN-China-GCC Economic Forum
Kuala Lumpur, May 27, 2025
Your Honorable Prime Minister Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim,
Distinguished Guests,
Business Leaders, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to join you in Kuala Lumpur for the opening ceremony of the ASEAN-China-GCC Economic Forum.
The ASEAN-China-GCC Summit is successfully held today. We have agreed to strengthen our trilateral partnership and ushered in a new chapter of trilateral cooperation. The leaders of participating countries have had in-depth discussions under the theme of "Synergizing Economic Opportunities Toward Shared Prosperity." It is widely agreed that profound and complex transformations are taking place in the global political and economic landscape, the common challenges countries face in their development are increasing, and the scarcity of development opportunities makes them all the more precious, increases the urgency of cooperation, and calls for more vision. In this context, our discussions are highly relevant and should involve all related sectors, particularly the business community, so as to pool wisdom and build consensus among more stakeholders. Let me take this opportunity to share with you three observations.
First, given everything that is going on, opportunities can be created if we join hands to meet the challenges. At present, economic globalization is suffering heavy blows never seen before. The values we pursue all along, such as peace, development and win-win cooperation, are severely challenged. Properly addressing these issues will bring significant opportunities for the countries of our three sides. Amid heightened geopolitical conflict, rivalry and confrontation, we can create long-term strategic opportunities when we deepen mutual trust and strengthen solidarity. The rapid development of Asia in the past decades offers a profound lesson: Only solidarity, mutual trust, peace and stability can bring development and prosperity. All countries are part of a close-knit community with a shared future. In the absence of mutual trust, problems may be amplified and cooperation becomes impossible. Yet with solidarity and mutual trust, we can render each other strategic support and cultivate broader and more sustainable high-standard economic cooperation, thus ensuring long-term, steady development. Amid rising protectionism and unilateralism, we can unleash enormous market opportunities when we continue to open wider and remove barriers. Countries of our three sides have all benefited from economic globalization and gained great development opportunities from integration into the world market. Our markets, when connected, will form one of the world's largest intra-regional markets and produce a multiplier effect. Building the big market will allow our countries to reap and share more benefits. Amid more decoupling practice, supply-chain disruptions and trade barriers, we can create opportunities for transformation and upgrading when we keep sharing resources and empowering one another. Countries vary in resource endowments and industrial structure. They bring different strengths to and gain from international industrial cooperation. This will maximize the use of resources, and boost industrial performance and sustained development for all who take part.
Second, the friendly cooperation between China, ASEAN and GCC countries has a long history and a bright future. More than 2,000 years ago, the earliest camel caravan from China reached the Middle East, and the first Chinese fleet landed in Nanyang (Southeast Asia). Ever since then, trade and people-to-people exchanges have connected us throughout over 20 centuries, strengthening and flourishing over time. These rich historical links will ensure even more successes in our future cooperation. Together, we will find greater potential for development. We are about a quarter of the world's population and the global economy, but only about 5 percent of global trade. A lot remains untapped. As we deepen our cooperation, our trade and investment will grow continuously and uplift our nations as well as our businesses. Together, our economies will work more efficiently. When factors of production move more easily between our countries and our industries are connected more closely, the cost of energy and other resources will go down, logistics will be faster, financial services will be more efficient, and more advanced technologies will give us strong impetus. The competitiveness and resilience of our economies will grow substantially, and our development will be more efficient and secure. Together, we will create more dynamic ecosystems of innovation. We are all outstanding innovators, each excelling in our own ways. Greater cooperation will enable our innovative talents to better learn from and complement one another, and provide first-class R&D support and rich application scenarios for innovation and creation to sow the seeds for more new industries and new forms of business. This will allow us all to stand taller in the global landscape of innovation.
The future of our trilateral cooperation is boundless like the oceans. It is upon us to take real actions in order to steer and shape it. China stands ready to work with ASEAN and GCC countries to strengthen alignment of development strategies, deepen cooperation on regional integration, and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. At the same time, we must firmly uphold the WTO-centered multilateral trading system, and stand for a stable and orderly global market environment. As the ongoing scientific revolution and industrial transformation unfold, let us join hands to seize the early opportunities, expand high-tech cooperation, safeguard the stable and unimpeded industrial and supply chains, and keep breaking new ground in our common development.
Third, with its high-quality development, China will consistently inject new impetus into the trilateral cooperation. In terms of development momentum, the Chinese economy has been growing steadily since the beginning of this year. With a year-on-year GDP growth of 5.4 percent in the first quarter, China is one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world. In the first four months of this year, we've seen strong development in the industrial sector, resilient export despite external pressure, and sustained expansion of new growth drivers. The figures speak for themselves: The added value of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew by 6.4 percent year-on-year; export increased by 7.5 percent compared with the same period last year; the added value of high-tech manufacturing and the investment in high-tech services went up by 9.8 percent and 11.3 percent year-on-year respectively; and production and sales of new energy vehicles both exceeded four million. Smart factories now cover more than 80 percent of the manufacturing sectors. These achievements speak volumes about the great stability of the Chinese economy. As President Xi Jinping said, the Chinese economy is not a pond, but an ocean. This vast ocean can withstand fierce winds and heavy rains. Each storm weathered only deepens its resilience and makes it more open and inclusive.
In terms of macro policies, facing risks and challenges from the external environment, we made clear that more proactive and effective macro policies will be implemented and that a more proactive fiscal policy and an appropriately accommodative monetary policy will be adopted. Fiscal expenditures hit a record high and the regulation of monetary and financial aggregates has been significantly strengthened, providing a strong underpinning for the expansion of aggregate demand. Going forward, we will continue to strengthen counter-cyclical adjustments in light of the changing circumstances. Whatever challenges lie ahead in the future, we have the capability and confidence to maintain the steady and long-term development of the Chinese economy.
In terms of strategic goals, China is a super-sized economy that enjoys the unique strength of major economies, i.e., domestic demand is the main driver and domestic circulation is possible. We are increasingly placing our strategic priority on expanding domestic demand and strengthening domestic circulation with a view to enhancing the internal driving force of the Chinese economy. We have accelerated efforts to implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand and have launched special initiatives to boost consumption. As more policy resources are given to consumption, a huge demand potential will be unleashed. We are also further deepening reform comprehensively and accelerating the high-end, smart and green industrial transformation, which will create new, additional demand. The Chinese economy is of great breadth and depth, which can provide a huge market for quality products from all over the world. We will stay committed to expanding high-standard opening up, take more measures to advance voluntary and unilateral opening up, and enable domestic and international circulations to reinforce each other, so that companies across the world, including those from ASEAN and GCC countries, can fully share in the opportunity of China's development.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Friends,
Cooperation is the only right way to overcome common challenges. China stands ready to work together with ASEAN and GCC countries to embrace greater openness and cooperation, promote steady economic growth, and join hands to synergize economic opportunities toward shared prosperity. Thank you.
