Southeast Asia's interactions with China have tremendously transformed and prospered in the recent decades, with China becoming ever more present on Southeast Asian soil in recent history, touching all dimensions: economic, political, social, and cultural. The current ASEAN-China dynamics are remarkably different from the past, bearing both excitement and caution for watchers. In this context, the advent of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has added a new perspective to the nature of China's rise in ASEAN. As the various BRI projects continue to unfold in ASEAN countries, public concerns about the impact of these projects are on the rise.However, there has not been enough extensive study on this issue. This edited book contributes towards bridging the knowledge gap by facilitating experts from ASEAN, China, and beyond, to discuss, reflect, debate the ground realities of BRI based on the local governments' and local people's experiences and narratives. The chapters in this volume address various dimensions of the BRI, provide unique perspectives, empirical evidence, and updated information on the overall progress of BRI in ASEAN.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been growing rapidly and become the hope of many leastdeveloped and developing countries around the world. However, many BRI investments have become the focus of criticism and concerns over China’s political and strategic purposes, debttrap, poor governance and corruption, and low-quality development. This thesis aims at clarifying the validity of these accusations and revealing factors influencing the performance of BRI investments, in order to give practical and applicable policy recommendations to partners of the BRI. To fulfil this goal, eleven BRI port investments in Southeast Asia that were approved between January 2010 and December 2018 were examined using the goal-achievement evaluation. This analysis model was implemented in three major steps, including identifying goals, setting criteria and assessing possible impacts of interventions. The evaluations of port projects in Southeast Asia revealed that almost all criticisms towards the BRI were justified, except for debt-trap. However, the validity of the remaining criticisms was different between the six worst projects that failed in almost all criteria and the five successful projects that only failed in less than two criteria. The in-depth analysis identified that political appropriateness was the dominant factor influencing the overall performance of port projects. Another major finding is that the worst projects received the biggest investments from China and the highest level of support from recipients, while witnessing the highest level of China’s control. The research has also shown that China’s propaganda and assertiveness of promoting the BRI were consistent with its efforts to restart and rebrand ports that were built before the announcement of the initiative. The study of China and its partners’ motives pointed out that the failure of BRI port projects was the result of recipients’ corruption and over-dependence on China; and China wanted control of failed projects to pursue its political and strategic interests. This research suggests three courses of actions for recipients to make BRI port investments successful and avoid negative impacts: (i) maintaining economic and political independence when negotiating with China; (ii) developing well-designed approaches and a comprehensive master plan to ensure effectiveness, and (iii) securing political appropriateness with centralized and transparent monitoring.

This book evaluates China’s relations with sub-regional Southeast Asia through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation framework. The book looks at domestic drivers and regional receptivity of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and also delves into the challenges of China’s engagement in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. The book examines how China’s BRI will contribute to the development of these countries, to regional economic integration and cooperation processes within a political-economic context. It addresses the BRI process within the GMS on three levels: regional, individual recipient countries and the Chinese perspective. The case studies in the book will help to provide insights on China’s growing economic influence in sub-regional Southeast Asia and its Belt and Road Initiative. This book will appeal to researchers interested in the BRI, China's relations with Southeast Asia and China’s neighbourhood policy and how domestic considerations are influencing China’s policy making.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), officially unveiled in 2013, is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign and economic policy initiative to achieve improved connectivity, regional cooperation, and economic development on a trans-continental scale. This book reviews the evolving BRI vision and offers a benefit-risk assessment of the BRI’s economic and geopolitical implications from the perspective of Asian stakeholder countries, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Among the value added of the book is first an online perception survey of opinion leaders from Asian participating countries on various aspects of the initiative. To our best knowledge, the survey is the first of its kind. Second, the book presents the simulation results of a computable general equilibrium model of the world economy to estimate the potential macroeconomic impacts of the BRI as a whole and those of its constituent overland and maritime economic corridors. Third, the book makes ten key evidence-based policy recommendations on how to enhance the prospect of a successful and mutually beneficial BRI 2.0 to both China and stakeholder countries.

This edited volume presents a trans-disciplinary and multifaceted assessment of the strategic and economic impacts of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on three regions, namely Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central Eastern Europe. The contributions to this book demonstrate the requirement of a more realistic view concerning the anticipated economic benefits of the New Silk Road. The contributors critique the strategic effects of China’s opaque long-term grand strategy on the regional and global political order. Specific countries that are covered are Finland, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Poland, and Thailand. Additionally, case studies from South Asia and Africa, notably India and Ethiopia, enable insightful comparisons. Encouraging readers to critically challenge mainstream interpretations of the aims and impacts of the BRI, this book should interest academics and students from various disciplines including Political Science, International Relations, Political Geography, Sociology, Economics, International Development, and Chinese Studies.

ASEAN countries play a crucial role in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that was initiated in 2013. A number of priority BRI projects have since been implemented. The implementation of BRI brings new opportunities and challenges to countries in the region, and also to regional integration.In this book, researchers from universities and think-tanks in ASEAN countries study the BRI from the perspective of regional studies. It presents an analysis of responses on BRI of the government and people from individual ASEAN members.The book addresses three areas: First, the strengths and weaknesses of ASEAN countries, and the opportunities and challenges for them in implementing the BRI (a SWOT analysis); second, the impacts of BRI on building the ASEAN community; and third, interactions between BRI and ASEAN-China cooperation.