Islam and Confucianism at the heart of the ASEAN-GCC-China rapprochement

The Asean-GCC-Chine Trilateral Summit, organized recently in the Malaysian capital, marked a notable inflection in global southern diplomacy. Behind the exchanges on trade and energy security, it is a deeper dialogue which has been sketched: that of civilizations.

The ASEAN-GCC-Chine format brings together three major regional blocks: ASEAN, which brings together ten countries in Southeast Asia; The Gulf Cooperation Council (CCG), made up of the six Arab Gulf monarchies; And China, central power of East Asia. This framework, first of all economic, now becomes a space for cultural and spiritual rapprochement between two major traditions: Islam and Confucianism.

Under the impetus of Malaysia, a Muslim country with a strong tradition of dialogue with China, the summit wanted more than a diplomatic forum. He laid the foundations for cooperation based on common values: ethics in governance, moderation, collective responsibility. The idea is to anchor diplomacy in the respective philosophical inheritances of the countries concerned.

Professors Osman Bakar and Phar Kim Beng, observers of this dynamic, evoke a possible “confluence” between the Islamic traditions of consultation (Syura) and justice (Khilafah), and the confugees of social harmony (LI) and moral exemplary (Junzi). They call to institutionalize this rapprochement through forums, university chairs and training programs for a new generation of ethical leaders.

In a global context marked by the rise of Islamophobia and sinophobia, this summit embodies a strong political gesture: that of non -Western civilizations which speak on the international scene, not to compete, but to propose another common horizon, based on knowledge, respect and peace.