The Impact of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia: Evaluating Risks and Benefits

Drawing insights from intensive empirical investigation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in various Southeast Asian countries, this book assesses and analyzes the continuing impact of China’s BRI on Thailand and ASEAN at a critical period of Southeast Asian history. Over the past decade, the BRI, a large flagship foreign policy effort of President Xi Jinping, has had a significant economic, political, and environmental impact across the world. Since its inception, the BRI has remained shrouded in confusion and controversy. The Covid-19 pandemic also presented additional challenges for our understanding of the BRI that warrant further exploration. This volume places special focus on special economic zones (SEZs) and high-speed train projects, and comparatively examines and critically analyzes the risks and benefits stemming from these megaprojects. Breaking away from existing academic studies on the BRI, which have been largely based on macro analysis with a top-down approach and theoretical deliberation, this book focuses on local realities with a qualitative approach to identify the potential impact of the BRI on the development of ASEAN countries. By way of a bottom-up, empirically-rich, first-hand ethnographic account of the risks and benefits of the BRI projects at the local, national, and regional levels in ASEAN, this book makes a substantial contribution to multiple disciplinary arenas, from anthropology, sociology, and history, to political science and international relations, with particular relevance to those researching China and its relationships with Southeast Asia.