Ong Tee Keat—Chairman of the Center for Belt and Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific, former Deputy Speaker of Malaysia’s House of Representatives, former Minister of Transport of Malaysia, and Senior Visiting Scholar at iGCU—shared his views on how the Middle East crisis is transforming the global order and the role of institutional innovation.
In his article, Ong argues that the U.S.–Iran conflict reveals a strategic contraction of Western influence in West Asia and accelerates a gradual eastward turn of Middle Eastern countries. Gulf countries, which have long relied on U.S. security guarantees, are reassessing their strategic alignment as those guarantees prove unreliable in conflict. In contrast, China’s diplomatic approach enhances its appeal in the region: the Global Security Initiative—proposed by China as a framework addressing the “legitimate security concerns of all parties”—could provide a viable foundation for conflict resolution.
The piece also emphasizes that China–ASEAN cooperation has already laid out a roadmap for regional energy security through diversification and renewable integration, mitigating risks from geopolitical shocks such as oil supply disruptions.
Finally, he highlights that China’s Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilization Initiative, and Global Governance Initiative together form an interconnected framework for global governance, whose effectiveness depends on practical implementation, multilateral platforms, and alignment with local development needs.
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