China pushes ‘pivot to South and Southeast Asia’ with Yunnan province as gateway to vast market

National Development and Reform Commission pledges to support Yunnan with transport, logistics, energy and digital connection with southern neighbours

China urged to seek ‘cooperation opportunities with emerging markets, including Southeast Asia, to offset its falling trade with developed countries’

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China’s National Development and Reform Commission has pledged to support Yunnan province in southwestern China to “speed up the construction of major international corridors”. Photo: Simon Song

Published: 8:00pm, 29 Sep 2023

China has vowed to push its southwestern province of Yunnan as a gateway to the vast market of South and Southeast Asian nations to forge closer ties with the region and offset US-led geopolitical pressure and economic rivalry.

Billed as the “pivot to South and Southeast Asia”, Yunnan has been tasked with building the “high land” of opening up, according to a statement by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner.

It pledged to further support Yunnan, which borders three Southeast Asian neighbours – Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos – to “speed up the construction of major international corridors” via transport, logistics, energy and digital information connection with its southern neighbours.

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“[We will support Yunnan] to expand and strengthen its unique advantaged industries and support the province to actively undertake domestic and international industrial transfers,” the agency said.

China has moved closer to Southeast and South Asia in recent years as its relations with the US have deteriorated. And it has strengthened the push of the mega go-global strategy of the Belt and Road Initiative in the region while the flagship project has encountered backlash in Europe.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has become China’s largest trading partner in recent years. The bloc has risen as the destination for foreign investors diversifying their supply chain away from China.

Asean is a key part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade pact that also includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.