Eye On Asia | China can boost Asean’s smart-city dreams but, first, it needs to earn some trust in Southeast Asia

China is the latest nation to pledge support for the Asean Smart City Network, which aims to address the Southeast Asian bloc’s urbanisation challenges through digital technology and innovation, an ambitious plan supported also by the United States, Australia and South Korea.

The network was launched in 2018 with 26 cities under pilot programmes, including Bandar Seri Begawan, Battambang, Bangkok, Cebu City, Da Nang, Jakarta, Hanoi, Kota Kinabalu, Luang Prabang, Phuket, Singapore and Yangon.

Following the Asean-China joint statement on cooperation last November, Chinese tech giant Huawei opened an artificial intelligence centre in Singapore, the island-state’s first 5G-enabled AI lab. The US$10 million centre plans to train thousands of developers to promote AI technologies for social and economic benefit.

So, what expertise can China share? Firstly, both China and Asean have experience with rapid urbanisation, with China’s urbanisation rate at 60 per cent at end-2018 and Asean’s at around 50 per cent today. The government-funded Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore points out that Asean’s fastest-growing cities are its medium-sized ones, with population sizes ranging from 200,000 to 2 million, such as Vientiane, Davao, Denpasar, Makassar, Johor Bahru and Da Nang. These cities are urbanising at an unprecedented rate of more than 6 per cent annually, a rate that only Chinese cities come close to.

China brings with it the experience of crafting a rigorous urban master plan to create more than 250 low-carbon eco-cities with business opportunities and liveability. Likewise, Asean is working to incorporate environmental protection in urban development within the framework of its sustainable urbanisation strategy.