Opinion | Can Belt and Road Initiative bridge the peace gap between China and Asean?
- Connectivity between China and Asean could be enhanced through Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative
- Massive infrastructure project comes against the background of Beijing’s military actions in South China Sea, and the US-China rivalry
Asean countries themselves have ideas about connectivity. For instance, the idea of a pan-Asia railway did not originate from China but from Malaysia and Asean itself. Asean also has a master plan on Asean Connectivity 2025.
The BRI was launched at a time when long-standing regional aspirations for connectivity converged with China’s desire to play a larger role on the international stage facilitated by its expanded financial and technological capacity.
The South China Sea dispute looms large in China-Asean relations as China’s display of military muscle and its establishment of outposts on artificial islands increase the threat perceptions of Southeast Asian claimant states. While Beijing would prefer to keep its territorial disputes separate from its overall ties with Asean countries, in the eyes of Asean states, Beijing’s economic might is linked to its military might.
As a result of China’s more strident foreign policy, suspicions of China’s intentions and the political and economic leverage it could exert through the BRI have increased. An annual survey by the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute showed that trust in China among Southeast Asian countries has fallen over the years.
Moreover, while infrastructure could be a boon to developing countries, it could also be a source of dependency. Infrastructure is a source of power, both in material and non-material terms. Materially, infrastructure, such as roads and railways, plays a significant role in power projection and war-making.