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Southeast Asia is playing an ever-growing part in China's investment and diplomatic decisions, particularly as Beijing's rivalry with Washington heats up. In the third of a four-part series on China's ties with Asean, Orange Wang looks at how Beijing is using infrastructure to forge stronger links with the region.
When Vietnam's new top leader To Lam visited Beijing in mid-August, infrastructure was very much top of mind.
During the trip, China agreed to support a feasibility study for two standard-gauge railway projects and help in the planning of another one in the Southeast Asian country, inching it forward in updating its colonial-era railways so they can link with Chinese train lines.
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Two weeks before that, Cambodia broke ground on the China-sponsored Funan Techo canal, which will connect the Mekong River with the Gulf of Thailand.
The developments point to a Chinese infrastructure drive in Southeast Asia in high gear, and that analysts say is likely to give Beijing a geopolitical edge over Washington in a "critical battleground".
There are signs of movement elsewhere in the region, too. Bangkok launched passenger train services to Vientiane, Laos, three months after the approval of the second phase of a project in Thailand to connect high-speed railways in the three countries. The Laotian capital was first integrated into the Chinese high-speed railway network in December 2021, when a rail link to China's Yunnan province opened.
Meanwhile, Jakarta and Beijing have started discussions about extending a China-backed high-speed rail line in Indonesia, and a Chinese consortium has reportedly bid for contracts to build a high-speed rail project linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Nian Peng, director of the Research Centre for Asian Studies (RCAS) in Hong Kong, said there was an "accelerating trend" in infrastructure-based connectivity between China and Southeast Asia.
Citing the developments on the routes to Vietnam and Thailand, he said China's rail links with Southeast Asian countries had moved from nearly nothing before the China-Laos high-speed railway opened three years ago to "blossoming in multiple spots".
Peng predicted that this could help Beijing fend off the risk of the United States coaxing Southeast Asian countries into its orbit and pressuring them to decouple from the Chinese economy.