ABSTRACT
In 2009 China surpassed the United States and Japan to become Southeast Asia’s most important trade partner, comprising 14 percent of total external trade for ASEAN in 2013 (Miller 2015, 1). China will become an even more important trading partner, particularly with the completion of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement in November 2015 (Li and Xu 2016). As an immediate neighbor, Southeast Asia represents an enormous market for Chinese trade, goods and influence. The establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), spearheaded by the Chinese government and focusing on the Asia Pacific region, also signals the increasing Chinese role in financing aid-related projects (Kamal and Gallager 2016).
