China Is Transforming Southeast Asia Faster Than Ever
- Rising Chinese labor costs send companies to Cambodia and Laos
- Countries becoming more incorporated with China’s supply chain
TOPSHOT - Motorists pass portraits of China's President Xi Jinping (L) and Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni in Phnom Penh on October 12, 2016. Xi is scheduled to arrive in Cambodia on October 13 for a two-day state visit. / AFP / TANG CHHIN SOTHY (Photo credit should read TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty ImagesChina’s investment is transforming its smaller Southeast Asian neighbors like never before while helping turn Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar into bigger destinations for its exports.
That’s driving some of the world’s fastest economic growth rates and providing Chinese companies with low-cost alternatives as they seek to move capacity out of the country. It’s also helping Asia’s largest economy and nations in its orbit adapt to what looks more and more like a new era of waning U.S. commitment to the region from a more inward-looking administration of President-elect Donald Trump.