Experts believe that China's trade policy has won the hearts and minds of Southeast Asians

Saeed Munir Hasru, director of the Bangladesh Institute of Policy, Advocacy and Governance, published an article on the website of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post on January 13 saying that China's trade policy has won the hearts and minds of Southeast Asians, and the full text is excerpted as follows:

Last month, China successfully deepened its ties with Singapore, signing 14 new agreements at its annual bilateral cooperation meeting on 29 December 2021.

Beijing has been active in Southeast Asia since the 1990s and became an ASEAN Dialogue Partner in 1996. In November 2020, 10 ASEAN member countries signed the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). It's the world's largest free trade agreement, with several major powers participating, but the United States is absent.

Of course, the United States remains a core geopolitical power with allies in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific. Southeast Asia does not have large military powers, which has also helped the United States gain geopolitical status in the region.

On the other hand, China has unswervingly strengthened production, trade and investment in Southeast Asia and the world, strengthened ties through economic partnerships and trade relations, and developed into a geo-economic power.

Barack Obama's "pivot to Asia" policy is not focused on the economy and relies more on powerful military maneuvers aimed at containing China. Then there's Donald Trump's "America First" policy. The policy prompted the United States to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, hurting its political and economic relations with Southeast Asia.

U.S. President Joe Biden now faces an uphill battle to correct the line. While high-level engagement has been initiated, much remains to be done to restore confidence in the region in the coherence and reliability of U.S. policy.

Many ASEAN members are unlikely to side with Beijing. Instead, analysts have hinted that ASEAN could forge a comprehensive strategic partnership with China, which could further boost investment, trade and even military ties while weakening U.S. influence in the region.

China recognizes that economic security through trade is more enduring than economic security through military superiority. Thus, by strengthening its economic ties with many of America's traditional allies, China has cleverly mastered its relationship with ASEAN.

Vietnam's new subway system in Hanoi is made in China. Indonesia is seen by Washington as an important ally, but last year the two countries signed a deal pushing for the use of their respective currencies in trade deals, curbing their dependence on the dollar.

China has made great progress in becoming a major player in the international market. Free trade agreements such as RCEP have helped China break into the Indo-Pacific region. The United States is engaged in diplomacy, while China is using infrastructure investment agreements to implement its own plans.

ASEAN will overtake the EU in 2020 as China's largest trading partner. From agriculture and manufacturing to digital and green economies, ASEAN attracts Chinese direct investment in many areas. Investment between ASEAN and China now exceeds $310 billion. Total trade in 2020 increased to $685.28 billion, while U.S. trade with ASEAN remained at $362.2 billion.

Even when it comes to the so-called "Quadrilateral Security Dialogue," which includes the United States, Japan, Australia, and India, China has strong trade relations with all members outside the United States. In 2020, Japan's exports to China amounted to $141.4 billion, accounting for about one-fifth of its total exports, surpassing the United States.

We cannot look at Beijing's diplomatic strategy in isolation from its economic policies. China attracts countries in the "Indo-Pacific" region through large infrastructure investment agreements (especially the Belt and Road Initiative), development assistance, and outbound investment.

The United States is also struggling to catch up and is forging a comprehensive so-called "Indo-Pacific Framework" to strengthen cooperation in trade and the digital economy, resilient supply chains, decarbonization, infrastructure, and other areas of common interest. Because the United States is constantly divided at home, and these divisions often affect trade and foreign policy, it takes more than diplomatic engagement and verbal assurance to pit the United States against an adversary who does not need to cater to any vested interests at home and has no uncertainty about political leadership or policy coherence.

Source: Reference News Network