Tag: ASEAN
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Japan, China Both Court ASEAN Countries as Part of Burgeoning Battle for Influence in Southeast Asia
Both Japan and China held a series of events with senior leaders from the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in recent days as part of a ramped-up effort to increase their respective influence in Southeast Asia.
TikTok Finds Its Way Back Into Indonesia’s Booming E-Commerce Market
Chinese-owned TikTok announced on Monday that it is taking over 75% stake in Tokopedia, the Indonesian e-commerce unit of GoTo’s super-app ecosystem. The company said that it will spend a total of $1.5 billion and that the transaction will be completed by the first quarter of ...
Vietnam’s Biggest Export Market U.S., Import Source China
The U.S. was Vietnam’s biggest export market in the first 11 months of 2023 at $88 billion, down 13% year-on-year. China was second at $56 billion. Meanwhile, China was Vietnam’s largest import market at $100 billion, followed by South Korea at ...
Belt and Road Initiative at 10: Milestones and Concerns Across Southeast Asia
China held its third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing in October, with leaders from Southeast Asia in attendance to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). At the opening ceremony, the Chinese president Xi Jinping posed with ...
Explaining Indonesia’s Different Responses To Palestine, Xinjiang, and Myanmar’s Rohingya
On November 16, 2023, an overcrowded wooden boat carrying around 250 Rohingyas attempted to land in the Indonesian province of Aceh. They were unwelcome, and locals turned the boat away. The Rohingyas are a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority group in Myanmar. Thousands are forced to risk ...
ASEAN Defense Chiefs Expand Talks to China, U.S., India
ASEAN defense ministers gathering in Jakarta expanded talks on Thursday to include defense chiefs from China, the U.S., Japan, and India. U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin attended but did not meet with a Chinese counterpart. ...
South China Sea Crisis and ASEAN’s Quiet Diplomacy
At the maritime symposium this week in Hainan, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi warned against a “bloc confrontation” approach to solving disputes, alluding to the Philippines, the United States, and Japan’s growing complaints about the brewing tension in the South China Sea. On October 22, two Chinese ...
Indonesia’s EV Ambition May Be Underestimating Some Challenges. Relying On China Won’t Be Enough
Indonesia is on a quest to build an end-to-end electric vehicle (EV) industry. The country is rich with nickel, an important raw material for nickel cobalt manganese (NCM)-based EV batteries. It’s a “confident middle-income” country, according to the World Bank, and it’s got a thriving automotive ...
China’s BYD Takes Pole Position in Thailand, Southeast Asia’s Largest EV Market
Chinese electric vehicle brand BYD has been taking over Thailand by storm. Its most popular model – Atto 3 SUVs now controls 31% of Thailand’s electric vehicle (EV) segment, less than a year after it launched in October 2022. This ...
The South China Sea Crisis is Fast Approaching a Dangerous Tipping Point
The reactions to Sunday's at-sea collisions between Chinese and Philippines maritime forces reveal a very worrisome trend in what's fast becoming one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints. While the incidents were both minor, more like gentle bumps than violent collisions, ...
China’s Belt & Road Checks May Get Smaller, But Indonesia Can Still Get Plenty
After complaints surrounding debt and environmental woes, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is finally changing. At the Belt and Road Forum this week, China announced that the BRI will now be “Small but Smart”, aiming to fund smaller-sized projects that are greener. ...
Vietnam’s “Multi-Alignment” Strategy: Friend to All, Ally to None
Most developing countries around the world have stated repeatedly and emphatically that they do not want to be drawn into a new Cold War between the United States and China -- few, though, have moved with as much determination as Vietnam to ensure that never happens.