April 16th, 2024
Via South China Morning Post, an article on China’s top diplomat Wang Yi’s plans to push belt and road during visits to Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea:
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Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to the three countries this week as Beijing steps up diplomacy with Southeast Asia amid US rivalry
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China is a top trading partner and source of foreign investment to all three nations
During his six-day trip, Wang will join a high-level dialogue cooperation mechanism with Indonesia and attend a meeting of the China-Cambodia Intergovernmental Coordination Committee, ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
Lin referred to the three countries as “good friends and good partners” based on mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and shared development. He also praised the “strong momentum of development” of ties between China and the three countries.
Lin said China hoped Wang’s visit would help implement the consensus President Xi Jinping reached with the leaders of the three countries and carry out high-quality projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Wang’s trip comes as China steps up its diplomacy with Southeast Asian nations amid tightening strategic competition with the United States in the Asia-Pacific region.
Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto visited China in late March. China is the country’s biggest trading partner and second-biggest foreign investor. Indonesia is China’s second-biggest investment destination, following Singapore, among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, Southeast Asia’s first high-speed rail line, was built with Chinese funding. Beijing has hailed it as one of the most successful examples of the belt and road strategy, China’s plan to improve infrastructure and connectivity in the region.
China is also Cambodia’s top trading partner and source of imports as well as its biggest source of foreign investment and foreign aid.
Last year, Xi and then Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a “Diamond Hexagon” cooperation frame in Beijing aimed at increasing bilateral links in politics, productivity, agriculture, energy, security and human exchanges.
China is trying to not only maintain its status as a top trading partner to Papua New Guinea, the largest island nation in the South Pacific, but also to expand their ties to more areas. It was reported in January that Beijing and Papua New Guinea were negotiating an agreement on security and police cooperation.
China has elevated its relationships with Indonesia and Cambodia to the level of building a “community of shared destiny” and boosted ties with Papua New Guinea to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, according to Lin.
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