Category: Southeast Asia

Survey: Indonesians See China as an Opportunity, Not an Ally or Threat

Global debates about China’s rise often revolve around military flashpoints or ideological rivalry. Far less attention is paid to how societies in influential middle powers actually perceive Beijing’s growing role. Indonesia—home to more than 270 million people, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, and a country with a long ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

CGSP Take: How Does the Venezuela Crisis Affect China’s Relationship with the Global South?

By Cobus van Staden, CGSP Head of Research,
China has sharply criticized the Trump administration’s incursion into Venezuela and its detention of President Nicolás Maduro. 

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Disputed Myanmar Election Wins China’s Vote of Confidence

Myanmar's military-run elections are being pilloried abroad and shunned at home, but neighboring China has emerged as an enthusiastic backer of the pariah poll. International monitors have dismissed the vote starting Sunday as a charade to rebrand Myanmar's military rule since ...

Cambodia Says Chinese National Wounded by Thai Military Shelling

A Chinese national was wounded by Thai military shelling into Cambodia on Monday, Phnom Penh's interior ministry said, as the Southeast Asian neighbors waged deadly border clashes. Thai forces fired "artillery shells into civilian areas" of Cambodia's border province of Battambang, ...

Beyond the Scams Narrative, Chinese Entrepreneurs Bet on Cambodia

Cambodia is often portrayed in Chinese media as a place defined by gambling, fraud, and danger, but for a growing number of Chinese investors, it represents a blue-ocean market at an early stage of industrialization. A Caijing magazine feature examines ...

Thailand’s Resumed Border Strikes on Cambodia Highlight Limits of U.S. Pressure, Chinese Scholars Say

Thailand and Cambodia signed a joint peace declaration at the ASEAN summit in late October, aimed at ending long-standing border disputes. Yet, less than two months later, Thai forces launched strikes on casinos and hotels in Cambodia, reportedly linked to cross-border online fraud. Experts in China

A Senior Xi Adviser Visits Indonesia, Bringing Beijing’s Long Game Into Focus

One of China’s highest-ranking political figures, and among President Xi Jinping’s closest ideological advisers, visited Jakarta last week, in a move that underscored Beijing’s deepening interest in its relationship with Indonesia. Wang Huning, one of China’s most influential political ...

Myth and Misperception: Does Shared Communism Tie Vietnam to China?

In this edition of Myth and Misperception, I want to take a deep dive into one of the most contentious debates on Vietnam’s foreign policy: what role does ideology play in the country’s foreign policy? As a communist party-state, Vietnam officially adheres to Marxism-Leninism in every ...

Malaysia Says Search for Long-Missing Flight MH370 to Resume

By Isabelle Leong The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will resume at the end of December, Malaysia said on Wednesday, more than a decade after the plane disappeared. The nation's Transport Minister, Anthony ...

Why the Myanmar Side of the China–Myanmar Railway Can’t Move Forward

In 2022, China opened a new railway between Dali and Baoshan in Yunnan. It was meant to be the first step of a much bigger vision: a rail line running across Myanmar to the deep-sea port of Kyaukpyu, giving China’s southwest a direct outlet to the Indian ...

Alleged Abuses at Chinese-Invested Nickel Plant Expose Indonesia’s Weak Labor Oversight

Last month, LBH Makassar, a legal-aid organization in eastern Indonesia that represents workers and low-income communities, delivered an open letter to the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta. The letter describes serious labor violations at PT Huadi Nickel Alloy Indonesia, a Chinese-invested nickel smelter operating in Bantaeng, a ...

How China Outmaneuvers the West in Myanmar

By Jared Bissinger In the last year, China has increasingly used its economic leverage in Myanmar to tilt the scales towards the military’s State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC), helping them to regain territory and re-exert economic control. China has done ...

Thailand Suspends Prison Boss Over Alleged Privileges for Chinese Inmates

Thai authorities have suspended a prison chief in Bangkok over allegations that high-profile Chinese inmates were granted access to women in a private cell and other privileges, the justice ministry said. The scandal erupted last week after local media reported two ...

Chinese Woman Who Faked Nationality to Become Philippine Mayor Jailed for Trafficking

A Chinese woman who faked Philippine nationality to become a town mayor was sentenced Thursday to life in prison on human trafficking charges, a Manila regional court said. Alice Guo, who served as mayor of a town north of the capital, ...
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