Xi Jinping’s Charm Offensive in Southeast Asia

Paul Haenle & Hoang Thi Ha from Carnegie China
Following the 20th Party Congress, China’s paramount leader Xi Jinping engaged in a flurry of high-level diplomatic meetings with heads of state from dozens of countries in East and Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In this episode of the...

Conversation

12.16.22

How Well Is China Advancing Its Interests in Southeast Asia?

Gregory B. Poling, Sharon Seah & more
Xi Jinping traveled to Southeast Asia last month to attend the G20 summit in Bali before moving on to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ meeting in Bangkok. The meetings came on the heels of Premier Li Keqiang’s...

U.S.-China Dynamics in Southeast Asia

Paul Haenle & Evan A. Laksmana from Carnegie China
Paul Haenle speaks with Evan Laksmana about U.S.-China dynamics in Southeast Asia and Southeast Asian views of U.S. foreign policy in the region. Haenle and Laksmana touch on the role of ASEAN, the Quad, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, as...

Worries Grow in Singapore Over China’s Calls to Help ‘Motherland’

Amy Qin
New York Times
Growing up in Singapore, Chan Kian Kuan always took pride in his Teochew heritage — the dialect, the cultural traditions and the famous steamed fish. But after visiting his ancestral village in Teochew, in Guangdong Province, China, and seeing the...

What’s Made Indonesian Students Forget the China Taboo?

Aisyan Llewellyn
South China Morning Post
Not that long ago, having a Chinese book was strictly prohibited in Indonesia. But now the country’s young people are attending Chinese universities by the thousands.

The Arms Race in the South China Sea

Forbes
China’s increasingly assertive attitude in the South China Sea has its neighbors worried.

South Korean Coast Guard Fires 250 Rounds at Chinese Fishing Ships

CNN
South Korea's coast guard said it fired almost 250 rounds of ammunition from a machine gun and other weapons during a confrontation with dozens of Chinese fishing vessels Tuesday.

Asia's Longest-Serving Strongman Shows Power of China's Cash

Blake Schmidt
Bloomberg
A few decades ago, the U.S. and its allies could use financial leverage over aid-dependent Cambodia to nurture a democracy forged after Pol Pot’s genocide wiped out about a fifth of the population. But these days the biggest spender is China, which...

South China Sea: Vietnam Takes Up Fight Against China

Gregory Poling
CNN
When it comes to the disputed waters of the South China Sea, Vietnam’s leaders must feel very lonely these days.Their fellow Southeast Asian claimants have either reversed course after years of escalating tensions with Beijing, or are...

Recreating China’s Imagined Empire

Ian Johnson from New York Review of Books
China’s influence in the world has become a persistent theme of these early days of the Donald Trump era. During his campaign, Trump portrayed China (not entirely incorrectly) as the leading malefactor in the politics of international trade—holding...

Video

04.19.17

Trafficked into Wedlock

Yan Cong
When Buntha left Cambodia to marry a Chinese man, she did so for money, not for love.Thirty-two years old at the time, and never married, she had few opportunities to earn money for her family in her village in Kampong Cham, Cambodia. The China she...

Books

02.28.17

Everything Under the Heavens

Howard W. French
From the former New York Times Asia correspondent and author of China’s Second Continent, an incisive investigation of China’s ideological development as it becomes an ever more aggressive player in regional and global diplomacy.For many years after its reform and opening in 1978, China maintained an attitude of false modesty about its ambitions. That role, reports Howard French, has been set aside. China has asserted its place among the global heavyweights, revealing its plans for pan-Asian dominance by building its navy, increasing territorial claims to areas like the South China Sea, and diplomatically bullying smaller players. Underlying this attitude is a strain of thinking that casts China’s present-day actions in decidedly historical terms, as the path to restoring the dynastic glory of the past. If we understand how that historical identity relates to current actions, in ways ideological, philosophical, and even legal, we can learn to forecast just what kind of global power China stands to become–and to interact wisely with a future peer.Steeped in deeply researched history as well as on-the-ground reporting, this is French at his revelatory best. —Penguin Random House{chop}

A Retreat from TPP Would Empower China

Editorial Board
New York Times
China will take full advantage of the American shift to press its own trade vision--the Beijing-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Is China Getting Better at Charming Southeast Asia on the South China Sea?

Bill Hayton
Diplomat
Beijing looks to be getting better at how it uses soft power in the region

Malaysia’s Najib Risks Backlash at Home After Deals with China

Joseph Sipalan
Reuters
Malaysian Prime Minister is facing grumblings at home that he is "selling off" his country after returning from China with $34 billion worth of deals

On Duterte’s Heels, Malaysia is the Next Asian Country to Embrace China

Simon Denyer
Washington Post
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called himself a “true friend” of China, determined to take their relationship to "new heights"

Why China’s Plan to Build a New Silk Road Runs Through Singapore

Bloomberg
Cultural ties make city-state key gateway to Southeast Asia.

Frenzy for Foreign Condoms in China

Monami Yui
Bloomberg
Chinese consumers are attracted to the “high quality” of Japanese condoms.

Philippines Ramps Up Military Spending in Face of China Threat

MANUEL MOGATO
Reuters
The Philippines plans to ramp up military spending over the next 13 years, earmaking more than $20 billion in face of Beijing's maritime ambitions in the disputed South China Sea. 

South China Sea Dispute Between China, Philippines Heads To Court

TOBY STERLING
Reuters
The Philippines argued at a closed hearing on Tuesday that an international court should intervene in its dispute with China over the right in the South China Sea. 

Media

03.25.15

Was Lee Kuan Yew an Inspiration or a Race Traitor? Chinese Can’t Agree

Rachel Lu
When Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore, passed away at the ripe age of 91 on March 23, the elderly statesman was as controversial in death as in life—and nowhere was the debate more vigorous than in China. While state media was full of...

Leaders of U.S., Australia, Japan to Meet, With Eye on China

Rob Taylor
Wall Street Journal
The meeting risks antagonizing Beijing, which bristles at perceptions that its rise in the region is being challenged, but also comes as the U.S. and Japan are working to repair ties with China.

Growing Concern With China's Behavior at Sea: Senior U.S. Diplomat

Lesley Wroughton
Reuters
The United States has growing concerns that China's maritime claims in the disputed South China Sea are an effort to control oceans in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

Kerry Criticizes China, Announces New Maritime Security Aid to SEAsia

Matthew Lee
Associated Press
Taking clear aim at China’s growing aggressiveness in territorial disputes with its smaller neighbors, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Monday that the United States will boost maritime security assistance to the countries of Southeast...

Stirring up the South China Sea: Regional Responses

Unattributed
International Crisis Group
The South China Sea dispute between China and some of its South East Asian neighbours – Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei – has reached an impasse. Increasingly assertive positions among claimants have pushed regional tensions to new...