Sovereign Interdependence Must Be Built On Choice, Resilience And Mutual Respect - Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 (Bernama) -- Sovereign interdependence must be built on the principles of choice, resilience and mutual respect so that nations remain open to the world without compromising their dignity, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

He said interdependence is unavoidable in today’s interconnected world, but smaller and developing nations must be allowed to freely decide on the partnerships they choose, rather than accept ties imposed by external powers.

“This is not a call for a retreat from globalisation. Instead, we are remaking it so that nations stand more firmly on their own feet even as they stand together,” he said in his special address at the Kuala Lumpur Roundtable on Asia-Pacific Regional Cooperation of the Boao Forum for Asia here today.

Also present were Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Liew Chin Tong and Boao Forum for Asia chairman Ban Ki-Moon.

Anwar said sovereign interdependence preserves openness while safeguarding dignity, and rejects both enforced dependence and enforced decoupling.

He said, unfortunately, interdependence has today been weaponised by the world’s largest economy instead of advancing facilitation.

“Energy pipelines, shipping routes and semiconductor supply chains have become instruments of unfair leverage. Payment systems and capital flows are deployed as tools of pressure.

“The result is pervasive uncertainty and a sense of fragility is unmistakable. This is the new reality,” he said.

Anwar said the pursuit of unbridled mercantilism, generating economic disruptions, from liberation day tariffs to export restrictions, would have profound security and geopolitical implications as well.

“But history shows that when nations compete to build walls, prosperity declines and instability spreads. That is why we argue for sovereign interdependence,” he said.

Anwar said the global trading system is in distress, with the World Trade Organisation, once the guardian of rules, has been left in a state of near-paralysis.

He noted that the world’s largest economies are no longer custodians of the system but its disruptors.

“Tariffs swing wildly. Export controls are imposed and lifted with little warning. Financial sanctions reach far beyond their intended targets.

“We know that in today’s fragmented world, economic compartmentalisation as once propounded by Joseph Schumpeter can no longer serve the complex, interdependent nature of geoeconomics,” he said.

Co-hosted by Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, the roundtable is part of BFA’s exclusive regional dialogue series, underscoring Malaysia’s leadership as ASEAN Chair and its commitment to fostering regional collaboration. 

The roundtable focuses on strengthening multilateralism and open regionalism, enhancing inclusive connectivity and resilient supply chains, and the advantages of free trade agreements such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific.

-- BERNAMA