Regional political scientist Richard Heydarian said the programme unveiled by China in late 2013 had drawn participation of numerous countries, including Malaysia, despite unease over increased economic reliance on the superpower and the geopolitical implications of committing to China’s deals.
In an opinion piece published in the Nikkei Asian Review today, he said Obor had found a “sympathetic audience” among Southeast Asian countries, which he said are in desperate need of capital and technology to address growing infrastructure-related woes.
“Washington’s decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade has drawn regional states further into China’s embrace,” said Heydarian, who is the author of “Asia’s New Battlefield: US, China and the Struggle for the Western Pacific”.
He is also the assistant professor of International Affairs and Political Science at De La Salle University, and former policy advisor to the Philippine House of Representatives.
Malaysia is among the strategic nations in Southeast Asia in China’s massive plan to mobilise the Belt and Road concept to boost economic cooperation between the countries.
Prime Minister Najib Razak was among 28 world leaders who attended China’s Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, hosted by President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14 and 15.
Other Southeast Asian leaders at the event included Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Myanmar State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
Effective Jan 23, the administration of newly elected US president Donald Trump withdrew from the TPPA, which involved the introduction of free trade policies among 12 countries, including Malaysia.
This was despite the finalised proposal having been signed on Feb 4, 2016 in Auckland after seven years of negotiations.
International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed told the Dewan Rakyat on March 14 that Malaysia was no longer keen to remain in the grouping following the US’ exit.
Apart from Malaysia and the US, countries involved in the agreement were Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
China has been increasingly assertive on its territorial claims over the entire South China Sea, building artificial islands there with military air bases among other infrastructures, despite protests by Southeast Asian nations like the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Heydarian said Singapore’s former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had urged the US to pursue more free trade agreements in the region to give smaller economies “options besides China”.
He said unless the West and Japan step up their own initiatives, China will become well-poised to claim economic hegemony in its near neighbourhood.
“Despite the lofty aims touted at the gathering, there was lingering regional unease over deepening economic dependence on the Chinese juggernaut and its geopolitical implications,” he said.
He also noted that according to the Asian Development Bank, Asia faces a US$8 trillion (RM34.5 trillion) infrastructure-spending gap over the next decade.
“Developing countries in Asia need US$1.7 trillion (RM7.34 trillion) annually to cover their infrastructure needs,” he said.
“But developing nations have limited fiscal capacity, while multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the ADB are woefully underfunded compared with the scale of the infrastructure challenge.
“No wonder at least 60 countries have expressed interest in joining the Chinese project.”
He added that Southeast Asian states such as Malaysia and Thailand have been among the biggest beneficiaries of China-led infrastructure projects in the past decade, with Indonesia and the Philippines recently joining in.