Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], July 10 : Former Malaysian Member of Parliament Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang on Thursday criticised US President Donald Trump's trade war policies, calling them damaging to global peace and economic balance, while urging stronger cooperation between Asian nations including India, China, Vietnam, Japan, and Indonesia.
"We want to be friends with everybody. We do not want to have enemies. And the process whereby Donald Trump is creating a trade war is not good for anybody," said Lim while speaking to ANI in Chennai, stressing the importance of multipolar and multilateral frameworks for global development.
Lim emphasised that India and China, with their long civilizational ties, must collaborate to create "a new world order for justice, to bring about development and eliminate poverty, to ensure the rule of law and greater prosperity for everybody."
Recalling the historic 1955 Afro-Asian Solidarity Meeting in Bandung, Lim noted that it initiated a shift in global dynamics that continues to this day, with countries like Vietnam recently joining new international partnerships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. "So this is a new order... In the old days, we had non-alignment. We now want to have every country where you want to have multi-alignment," he said.
Addressing the persistent India-China border tensions, Lim acknowledged, "There are going to be differences, border, Pakistan, but despite these differences... the world is shrinking. It is a global village." He pointed to environmental degradation and climate change as urgent common challenges that should outweigh geopolitical differences.
"We are going to space, we are going to technology, and we want to be Asia, Africa, Latin America must develop. And this is the era where we want to see a quintet, a quintet of five countries -- India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam -- help the rise of Asia," Lim asserted.
He further noted the symbolic importance of cultural exchange, referencing how one of China's most widely read classical texts, Journey to the West, draws inspiration from India. "Journey to the West is India. So if it is a new journey to the West, then we can ensure that the Indians and Chinese, for the sake of the planet, for the sake of Earth, will grow together."
Highlighting potential cooperation through platforms like BRICS and COP33, Lim said, "I think that India and China can cooperate in BRICS... COP33 is going to help in 2028, and Indian Prime Minister Modi has proposed hosting COP33 in 2028 in India."
Underscoring the urgency of unity in a rapidly changing world, Lim reiterated that lasting peace and progress lie in cooperation, not confrontation. "The Chinese are not worried about the Indians; the Indians are worried about the Chinese. So I think for the sake of the Earth, we should cooperate," he said, calling for a collective shift towards trust, dialogue, and shared responsibility.