Malaysia will work with both the U.S. and China in developing AI, says top minister

Malaysia won’t pick between the U.S. and China as the two superpowers drift further apart in the global geopolitical landscape, according to the country’s minister of home affairs. 

“For a country like Malaysia, our practical solution or practical position now is that we do not need to choose sides,” Saifuddin Nasution bin Ismail said during Fortune’s ASEAN-GCC Economic Forum in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. “Instead, we have chosen to work with both.”

The comments came as leaders from the intergovernmental Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met for their annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur. As chair of ASEAN, it was Malaysia’s turn to host the summit, which focused on international collaboration between the 10 member nations. In the days following the ASEAN Summit, the Southeast Asian leaders met with additional policymakers from the Gulf Cooperation Council and China as part of trilateral discussions.