Opinion | Turning on the charm: China looks for a little love in Southeast Asia

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Beijing has embarked on a diplomatic offensive in Southeast Asia, using a combination of traditional and digital platforms

The outreach effort, which has had mixed results, seems aimed at preventing Southeast Asian countries from veering too close to the US

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As part of its Southeast Asia diplomatic blitz, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe, right, met Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, in Manila in September to discuss defence and military cooperation. Photo: EPA

Published: 1:45pm, 5 Oct 2020Updated: 1:53pm, 5 Oct 2020

There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity involving senior Chinese officials to Southeast Asia in recent weeks. Beijing appears to be developing its ties with Southeast Asia at a time when its relations with the United States have hit the rocks. Most notably, Yang Jiechi, a Politburo member and director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs, visited Singapore and Myanmar within a short span of two weeks.

Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe also conducted a whirlwind tour of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. Wei’s visit coincided with a series of Asean-related meetings that saw US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on Asean countries to act against China’s actions in the South China Sea.

What was the significance of the forays for China? To answer that, let’s take a look at the history of China’s relationships in Southeast Asia.

When Asean was formed in 1967, China’s media lambasted the original five founding members as “US lackeys”, and viewed Asean as a “counter-revolutionary alliance”, and even as a “military alliance directed specifically against China”.

Relations improved in the mid-1970s, when first Malaysia, then The Philippines and Thailand established diplomatic ties with China. This improvement was the result of changes in the strategic environment, namely, the worsening relationship between China and the then-Soviet Union, as well as the US-China detente in the early 1970s.