Inside China’s quiet reboot in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar

[SINGAPORE] Beijing is selectively reviving big-ticket infrastructure projects in South-east Asia’s most aid-dependent nations, restarting Cambodia’s stalled China-backed canal while treading more cautiously in debt-laden Laos and conflict-ridden Myanmar.

Dr Jayant Menon, visiting senior fellow at the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, said: “While there was a clear trend away from large-scale projects before the pandemic, these have made a return, driven by concerns over China’s economic slowdown.”

This shift underscores the increasingly fraught trajectory of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in South-east Asia’s least-developed economies, as it continues to weigh strategic gains in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar against rising debt, political risk and global scrutiny.