DPG Policy Brief
Taking Stock of China’s BRI in Southeast Asia
Authors Jayantika Rao T. V.
Date: March 27, 2025
Since its launch, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted significant attention, generating both support and scepticism. Nearly 12 years after its inception, the benefits of increased Chinese engagement through the BRI are undergoing scrutiny. This policy brief examines the broad contours and impact of the BRI in Southeast Asian nations.
The flagship of the BRI in ASEAN countries contiguous to China has been the China-Indochina Peninsular Economic Corridor (CICPEC), which was designed to enhance regional connectivity through a comprehensive network of railways and highways, facilitating the movement of people, goods, capital, and information. This corridor carries strategic significance for China, as it seeks to link its western provinces to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, with security implications for India and its Quad partners. This paper also assesses the progress of the BRI’s extensive physical infrastructure projects in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The author goes on to note that while China has become a prominent investor in Southeast Asia, the flow of investments is not uniform across the region, with varying levels of engagement in different countries. Importantly, there is no direct correlation between these investments and the BRI; instead, they may also stem from other factors, such as the ASEAN–China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). China’s major investments are concentrated in the manufacturing and real estate sectors, while investments in construction have been low.
The author concludes that although the BRI, as China’s grand strategy, is unmatched in scope and ambition, far surpassing anything the world has seen before, the reality behind it is much more complex. As the BRI has developed a negative connotation over elite capture and debt trap diplomacy, the Chinese leadership has sought to reframe the initiative, without entirely discarding it. With China now pursuing multiple global initiatives, the outlook for the BRI is not as promising as it was five years ago.
To read this DPG Policy Brief Vol. X, Issue 11, please click "Taking Stock of China’s BRI in Southeast Asia”.
The flagship of the BRI in ASEAN countries contiguous to China has been the China-Indochina Peninsular Economic Corridor (CICPEC), which was designed to enhance regional connectivity through a comprehensive network of railways and highways, facilitating the movement of people, goods, capital, and information. This corridor carries strategic significance for China, as it seeks to link its western provinces to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, with security implications for India and its Quad partners. This paper also assesses the progress of the BRI’s extensive physical infrastructure projects in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The author goes on to note that while China has become a prominent investor in Southeast Asia, the flow of investments is not uniform across the region, with varying levels of engagement in different countries. Importantly, there is no direct correlation between these investments and the BRI; instead, they may also stem from other factors, such as the ASEAN–China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). China’s major investments are concentrated in the manufacturing and real estate sectors, while investments in construction have been low.
The author concludes that although the BRI, as China’s grand strategy, is unmatched in scope and ambition, far surpassing anything the world has seen before, the reality behind it is much more complex. As the BRI has developed a negative connotation over elite capture and debt trap diplomacy, the Chinese leadership has sought to reframe the initiative, without entirely discarding it. With China now pursuing multiple global initiatives, the outlook for the BRI is not as promising as it was five years ago.
To read this DPG Policy Brief Vol. X, Issue 11, please click "Taking Stock of China’s BRI in Southeast Asia”.
