3 - The Geopolitical Significance of China's High-Speed Rail Projects in ASEAN Nations

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Since the 1990s ASEAN has shown an intention to connect all its member states to deepen economic integration and to enhance ASEAN unity. In 2010, the Master Plan of ASEAN Connectivity was launched to support an integrated ASEAN Community through physical, institutional, and people-to-people linkages. In the 2020s, the ASEAN physical connectivity through the development of transportation infrastructure has been in line with high-speed railway projects introduced by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Southeast Asia. China is not only the biggest trading partners for all ten ASEAN countries but also a giant neighbor whose power has rising drastically in the last three decades and has shaped regional stability, especially because of China strategic competition with the US in the region. Thus, the geopolitical implications of high-speed railway developments in Southeast Asian countries through the Chinese BRI scheme cannot be undermined.