CIAO DATE: 6/03

China and Southeast Asia: The Difference of a Decade

Catharin Dalpino and Juo-yu Lin

April 2003

Brookings Institution

 

Abstract

Over a span of several years, China's relations with the nations of Southeast Asia have shifted in quiet increments. The accumulated effect, however, has been profound. A concerted diplomatic effort to woo countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which now includes all countries in the region excepting East Timor, has reaped multiple benefits for Beijing. It is beginning to alter the political balance in the region as alignments with extra-regional powers are shifting, however subtly. In some aspects, the change is more dramatic. Economic relations have expanded rapidly; for example, trade between China and Southeast Asia is 17 times larger today than it was 25 years ago.

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