China and Japan, in the Mekong Region: Competition and Cooperation
Bi Shihong argues, in this chapter, that China and Japan are pursuing their own conceptions of cooperation in the Mekong region along parallel tracks. However, a modicum of competition between the two Northeast Asian countries, especially in the fields of
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China and Japan, in the Mekong Region: Competition and Cooperation Bi Shihong
Introduction Since the Cold War’s end and the restoration of peace in Cambodia (earlier torn by civil war), the countries in Mekong subregion have had the opportunity for regional cooperation and economic development. This subregion’s strategic location connects China, Mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia by land, and the Pacific and Indian Oceans by sea. With a combined population of almost a quarter billion people, the Mekong riparian states of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam cover 1.937 million square kilometers, and their total GDP was US$782.82 billion in 2015.1 Because of its vast economic potential 1 International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database, see http://www.imf. org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2013/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2011&ey=2018&scsm
Bi Shihong (*) Center for China’s Neighbor Diplomacy Studies, Yunnan University, Kunming, China Bi Shihong School of International Studies, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
© The Author(s) 2017 Lam Peng Er (ed.), China-Japan Relations in the 21st Century, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4373-4_8
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and geostrategic location, the Mekong subregion has attracted sustained attention from China and Japan. After the Cold War, Japan vigorously carried out its economic diplomacy in the Mekong area. This included numerous policies on subregional cooperation, investments, aid, and economic development, and establishing its important role there. Indeed, Tokyo is the biggest donor and investor in the riparian countries. However, Beijing is also increasing its economic and diplomatic role in this subregion. Though both Northeast Asian countries are interested in the Mekong area, they have different conceptions about the geographical scope of the Mekong countries engaged in cooperation. For Tokyo, Mekong cooperation only aims at the riparian Southeast Asian states of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam but does not include Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China as Mekong partners. However, to Beijing, its two Southern provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi are integral to Mekong regional cooperation. Conceivably, economic development in the Mekong area will also benefit these two Chinese provinces. Beijing and Tokyo did not have conflictual relations in the Mekong region during the Cold War era. After Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia in 1978, both China and Japan cooperated with the US and the ASEAN countries in a united front against Vietnam and its Soviet ally. In the post-Cold War era, Beijing and Tokyo have made their own overtures to strengthen their economic and diplomatic ties with the Mekong countries. As mentioned earlier, China and Japan are pursuing their own conceptions of cooperation in the Mekong region along parallel tracks. To be sure, there is competition between Beijing and Tokyo as they jockey for influence by wooing the riparian states along the Mekong River. But I argue that a modicum of competition between the two No
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