China’s top diplomat visits Southeast Asia in bid to bolster presence there

As the West tries to isolate China, Beijing is pursuing a “deliberate campaign to court” developing countries by funding infrastructure projects through its Belt and Road Initiative and ramping up security engagement with nations that have felt at odds with American foreign policy, The Washington Post reported. “China understands the West’s arrogance and the weakness of the West’s approaches in developing countries,” said a Tsinghua University academic. But China’s own projection of power limits its strategy to exploit this anti-West sentiment in the Global South, a political science expert argued, such as by alienating the Philippines with aggressive maritime tactics in the South China Sea.

Thailand sees China as crucial for its post-COVID economic recovery, The Diplomat reported, but the government is worried that its rapid acceleration in the Thai market is disenfranchising local workers. More than 3,500 factories producing cheap goods have closed in the last four years, according to one local Thai outlet, which officials blamed on the flood of low-cost Chinese imports. Thailand is boosting custom inspections and slapping import taxes to limit Chinese competition, mirroring measures taken by Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia. But Bangkok has to strike a balance between protecting local businesses and adhering to international trade agreements, a Thai government official told Bloomberg, and it is wary of characterizing the anti-dumping policies as a response to China for fear of reprisal.

Myanmar is proving to be a hurdle in China’s efforts to be perceived as an international peacekeeper, including a failed attempt to broker peace through coercing the military junta into conceding land. Gains by ethnic rebel groups have decimated trade across the China-Myanmar border, cut off Beijing’s links to the Indian Ocean, and imperiled a strategic oil pipeline project — all compounding China’s economic woes. China is now pushing for an “impossible” nationwide election in Myanmar that the junta doesn’t have the ability to carry out, The Diplomat wrote. Instead, the country is more likely to see a “Chinese election,” a human-rights advocate argued, where Beijing will provide logistics and advisers, and polls will be conducted only in military-controlled areas.