China leveraging Laos to link up its South-East Asian economic interests

Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone attend the inauguration ceremony of the China-aided Mahosot General Hospital building in Vientiane, Laos. - Photo: Xinhua

VIENTIANE (Agencies): China aims to scale up infrastructure construction in uniquely strategic Laos to accelerate trade and investment throughout South-East Asia as Chinese businesses scout for space to grow offshore, analysts said.

China Premier Li Qiang said during a four-day visit to the South-East Asian nation earlier this month that he would work with Laotian officials to turn Laos from landlocked to “land-linked”, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Laos, relatively undeveloped and small at just 7.4 million people, matters to Beijing because it shares borders not only with China, but also with the larger South-East Asian economies of Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

“Laos is seen as a transport hub for China to export Chinese products to the other countries in the subregion and import products from those countries to China,” said Supitcha Punya, an assistant professor of political science and public administration with Chiang Mai University in Thailand.

China would eventually add roads, airports and dry ports tethered to a 400km (249 mile), US$5.9 billion railway that was finished in 2021, the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (Amro) in Singapore said in January last year.

The additions would boost China’s economic reach in South-East Asia for its own landlocked western regions, said Naubahar Sharif, head of public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Also this week, Qu Qingshan, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, led a CPC delegation on a visit to Laos from Tuesday to Thursday.

Qu, also head of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee, attended a briefing on the spirit of the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee held for Lao Party and government cadres.

Qu met with Bounthong Chitmany, a politburo member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee, a permanent member of the Secretariat of the LPRP Central Committee, and vice president of Laos.

Qu also met with Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune, a member of the Political Bureau of the LPRP Central Committee and deputy prime minister of Laos, and Khamphanh Pheuyavong, a member of the Secretariat of the LPRP Central Committee and head of the Propaganda and Training Board of the LPRP Central Committee.

Qu thoroughly promoted the spirit of the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and had in-depth exchanges on China-Laos relations and inter-party relations during the briefing and the meetings.

The Lao side spoke highly of the great significance of the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee and expressed willingness to strengthen exchanges and mutual learning with China and further promote the building of the China-Laos community with a shared future. - Agencies