Latest news with #AlexandreDayant
CNBC
22-07-2025
- Business
- CNBC
The west is pulling back development financing to Southeast Asia and that's bad: Lowy Institute
Alexandre Dayant from Lowy Institute says China is playing a bigger role now in Southeast Asia in terms of financial aid and its approach to focus on infrastructure isn't always beneficial to the general public. Meanwhile social issues such as education and institution governance are at risk of being ignored due to the West retreating from the region.
7NEWS
22-07-2025
- Business
- 7NEWS
7NEWS The Issue Podcast: Donald Trump's foreign policy aids China
President Donald Trump 's withdrawal of foreign aid is raising fears that China will increasingly dominate development in southeast Asia. A new report by the Lowy Institute shows Beijing is getting the upper-hand, putting pressure on the Albanese government to act. It's the third edition of Southeast Asia Aid Map, a comprehensive database tracking official development finance flows across the region. The map shows total official development finance to Southeast Asia increased modestly to US$29 billion in 2023, but the region is facing a much bleaker outlook, with the Trump administration's decision to scrap about US$60 billion in aid and European countries pulling back more than $US25 billion. Speaking to 'The Issue,' a 7NEWS Podcast, Senior Economist Alexandre Dayant says if Australia does nothing, 'China will become a bigger leader of development finance because others are retracting'. 'You could argue southeast Asian nations will have less agency to push back on Chinese aid projects but also to push for better quality of them. 'Foreign aid provides you with long and strong relationships, I think it is sometimes a tool that we forget.' China dominates the region by focusing on infrastructure, whereas Australia spends on health and education. Among China's development projects in Australia's backyard is a $16 billion mega railway in Malaysia, a 600MW coal fired power station in Vietnam, and a $5.6 billion industrial park in Indonesia dedicated to nickel production. According to the Lowy Institute China has committed 34 per cent of all aid funding in the region, Japan 12 per cent, South Korea 6 per cent, the United States 3 per cent and Australia just 2 per cent. To combat Beijing, experts like Alexandre Dayant want the Albanese Government to increase aid, and work with like minded partners, still invested in the region, such as Japan and South Korea. Australia's Minister for International Development, Anne Aly, has defend the Albanese's Governments handling of foreign aid. 'Our neighbours in the Pacific and Southeast Asia look to us, they look to us as a trusted partner,' Aly said.
Qatar Tribune
20-07-2025
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
As US and Europe cut aid budgets, China's star is on the rise in Southeast Asia: Report
Agencies China's role as Southeast Asia's largest infrastructure financier is increasing its regional influence at a time when the United States and the European Union are slashing their foreign aid budgets, a new report by an Australian think tank said. With the Trump administration in the United States scrapping about US$60 billion in aid and European countries pulling back more than US$25 billion, 'the centre of gravity' in Southeast Asia's development finance landscape 'looks set to drift East, notably to Beijing, but also Tokyo and Seoul', the Lowy Institute report, which was released today, said. 'China is the single largest partner on infrastructure financing in Southeast Asia, but traditional donors combined still outspend it,' the report's lead authors, Alexandre Dayant, Grace Stanhope and Roland Rajah, wrote. 'As Western aid declines and China recalibrates its strategy, Beijing is well positioned to regain dominance.' Southeast Asia's traditional partners include countries such as the US and Australia, and international organisations such as the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. With the US expected to cut its foreign assistance by 83 per cent this year, the retrenchment of funds from Europe and tariff uncertainties undermining trade ties between the US and other countries, China is enhancing its influence in the region through infrastructure connections. Recent examples include work on high-speed railway links with Vietnam and Thailand. China International Development Cooperation Agency spokesman Li Ming told a news conference in March that China's 'principles related to foreign aid, including non-interference in internal affairs, no political strings attached and no empty promises made, will not change'.'A major country should act like a major country by shouldering its due international obligations and fulfilling its responsibilities, rather than renege on its promises, be mercenary or bullying,' he Lowy Institute report said that in 2023, China had 'ramped up' non-concessional loan disbursements by almost 50 per cent compared to 2022, accelerating major infrastructure projects such as the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway in Indonesia and the East Coast Rail Link in Malaysia. 'Even as the infrastructure race slows, China's relative importance as a development actor in the region will rise as Western development support recedes,' the report said. 'Beijing retains a substantial pipeline of infrastructure projects and has shown continued appetite to take on major projects.' Lower-middle-income economies such as the Philippines and Vietnam would engage with China when doing so aligned with their domestic priorities, the report said, while poorer economies such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar – which had limited access to alternative financing – remained 'heavily reliant' on China and had 'much less room to negotiate'. There was a fourfold increase in Chinese infrastructure project commitments from a low of US$2.5 billion in 2022 to almost US$10 billion in 2023 due to the revival of the Kyaukphyu Deep Sea Port project in Myanmar, the report said. It said the European Union and the governments of seven European countries – France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Austria and Italy – had announced plans last year to implement US$17.2 billion in foreign aid cuts between this year and 2029, while the United Kingdom was cutting around US$7.6 billion a year. Total development finance to Southeast Asia could decline by 8 per cent, or more than US$2 billion, to US$26.5 billion next year, according to Lowy Institute estimates based on budget documents, public announcements and calculations by other researchers.
South China Morning Post
20-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
As US and Europe cut aid budgets, China's star is on the rise in Southeast Asia, report says
China's role as Southeast Asia's largest infrastructure financier is increasing its regional influence at a time when the United States and the European Union are slashing their foreign aid budgets, a new report by an Australian think tank said. With the Trump administration in the United States scrapping about US$60 billion in aid and European countries pulling back more than US$25 billion, 'the centre of gravity' in Southeast Asia's development finance landscape 'looks set to drift East, notably to Beijing, but also Tokyo and Seoul', the Lowy Institute report, which was released today, said. 'China is the single largest partner on infrastructure financing in Southeast Asia, but traditional donors combined still outspend it,' the report's lead authors, Alexandre Dayant, Grace Stanhope and Roland Rajah, wrote. 'As Western aid declines and China recalibrates its strategy, Beijing is well positioned to regain dominance.' Southeast Asia's traditional partners include countries such as the US and Australia, and international organisations such as the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. With the US expected to cut its foreign assistance by 83 per cent this year, the retrenchment of funds from Europe and tariff uncertainties undermining trade ties between the US and other countries, China is enhancing its influence in the region through infrastructure connections. Recent examples include work on high-speed railway links with Vietnam and Thailand. China International Development Cooperation Agency spokesman Li Ming told a news conference in March that China's 'principles related to foreign aid, including non-interference in internal affairs, no political strings attached and no empty promises made, will not change'. 'A major country should act like a major country by shouldering its due international obligations and fulfilling its responsibilities, rather than renege on its promises, be mercenary or bullying,' he said.
South China Morning Post
07-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Southeast Asia's balancing act with China threatened by Western aid cuts
Continuous cuts in foreign aid by Western governments such as the United States may aggravate a power imbalance between Southeast Asia and China , according to findings from a study on the region's approach to China's aid. Advertisement The study also found that countries had different strategies for accepting aid from Beijing. Southeast Asian states with acute development needs and constrained access to development financing, such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, were found to be the most reliant on China. The findings, released on March 26, came from the report 'Hedging bets: Southeast Asia's approach to China's aid' by Lowy Institute's analysts Alexandre Dayant and Grace Stanhope. Meanwhile, lower-middle-income countries with more diverse foreign relations, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, were classified as 'restrained' in accepting Chinese funds, while higher-income nations with moderate development needs, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, approached ties with China 'the most opportunistically and politically'. The study said the 'new-found agency' of many Southeast Asian countries to calibrate development ties with China might be undermined if Western aid cuts – such as President Donald Trump's decision to impose a 90-day freeze on foreign aid provided by the US across the board – translated to a drastic reduction of development financing available in the region. Countries already reliant on Chinese development support will have even less room to explore diversifying their ties Alexandre Dayant and Grace Stanhope, Lowy Institute's analysts 'Countries already reliant on Chinese development support will have even less room to explore diversifying their ties. Countries with restrained or opportunistic approaches to China will find it harder to maintain this precarious balancing act,' the study said.
