Durian diplomacy creates sweet stink of success

Distinctive in taste and famously divisive, durian is not everyone’s choice of fruit. This was certainly the case for some Chinese explorers when they first encountered it during the Ming Dynasty’s early maritime voyages.

One record dates back to 1413, when a translator called Ma Huan travelled to what is now Malaysia on a trip with diplomat and admiral Zheng He. In his travelogue, Ma described durian as a “stinky fruit” that smelled like “rotten beef.”

But fast forward six centuries and this tropical fruit has settled into Chinese daily life. The country is now the world’s top importer of durian, accounting for around 95% of global demand. Its imports surged to a record high of nearly US$7 billion in 2024.

Such is its popularity in China that governments across Southeast Asia, where most of the world’s durian is produced, are using its export as a tool of political and economic influence.

For years, gifting top-quality durians to Chinese officials has been one way to cultivate goodwill. On a visit to Beijing in 1975, for example, former Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj gave 200 durians as presents to Chinese leaders.

Fashion brand

Last year, Malaysia’s King Ibrahim offered Chinese president Xi Jinping two boxes of the premium fruit during a state visit. This included the prized Musang King, a variety that is often referred to in China as the “Hermès of durians” – a nod to the exclusive fashion brand.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had also been filmed earlier that year tackling a durian with a knife and spoon. The traditional way to eat it is to open the fruit and consume the flesh by hand.

Yet durian is more than just a symbol of friendship between Southeast Asian states and Beijing. China’s massive demand has boosted domestic economic growth across the region, turning some previously poor agricultural areas into sites of prosperity.

According to Eric Chan, a Malaysian durian farmer who was interviewed by the New York Times in 2024, revenue from sales to China has transformed his town. Farmers, he said, had been able to rebuild their houses and “send their children overseas for university.”

Southeast Asian nations have also used China’s appetite for durian to strengthen their economic relationships with Beijing. Vietnamese exports of the fruit have been credited with opening access to the Chinese market for other domestically produced agricultural goods.

And Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has openly announced that he sees durian exports as a way to secure follow-up Chinese investments. “Durian diplomacy is not just diplomacy – it is durian business,” Hamidi said in November.

“We need to work with Chinese businessmen to further develop Musang King plantations in Malaysia, and we should also strengthen downstream industries together,” he added.

Global chaos

For China, the durian trade is part of a broader strategy. Since taking power in 2013, Xi has repeatedly stressed that his country must safeguard its food security. Researchers describe the resulting approach as a “food Silk Road,” an emerging network of investments and trade.

Durian from Southeast Asian nations is one part of a much wider flow. New Zealand exports most of its premium gold kiwifruit to China, which is an equally important market for Chilean cherries. Reports suggest that shipments of Kenyan avocados are also increasing.

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January, and the subsequent global chaos that was unleashed by his sweeping tariff campaign, has enabled China to consolidate these relationships.

In the first quarter of 2025, for example, Chinese imports of agricultural products from members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN reached nearly $7.5 billion – a 14% increase from the same period last year.

According to Chatham House, a British-based international affairs think tank, Trump’s erratic policies have led to declining perceptions of the United States among Southeast Asian officials.

This may see countries in the region, including traditional American allies such as the Philippines and Thailand, shift further towards Beijing’s sphere of influence in the near future.

China’s durian boom has delivered rapid growth in Southeast Asia, but it has also produced several unintended consequences. The establishment of new plantations, for example, has led to deforestation in Indonesia, Laos and Malaysia.

This has disrupted local habitats and ecosystems, posing a risk to endangered animal species such as the Malayan tiger.

Foreign control

As the Chinese market continues to grow, ASEAN nations will also need to prepare for rising foreign control over supply chains and regulatory uncertainty in an unstable global economy.

The challenge for these states moving forward will be to capture the benefits of Chinese durian demand while managing the expansion of the industry.

Ming Gao is a Research Fellow of East Asia Studies at Lund University in Sweden. Tabita Rosendal is a Researcher at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies at Lund University.

This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of China Factor.