land logistics corridors among China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. First, analyses of the present cross-border transportation network among these four countries are shown, with main highway facilities, port customs clearance, future upgrading plans, and financial resources. Then, mixed and comparative study approaches have been applied with the calculation of demand for international land logistic trade among these countries, which also includes the logistic trade of subsidiary agricultural products and industrial products. Finally, the chapter puts forward a few suggestions on how to promote transportation efficiency and enable trade facilitation of international land logistics among these four countries. In this a way, this chapter also aims to make contributions to the building up of the “Golden Logistics Route” between Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Guangxi province — the gate to the Southeastern region of China — and fully exploit complementarities among these economies and their sub-regions.
The last chapter of this volume by Wasutadon Nakawiroj, Pak Veerastien, and Buddhagarn Rutchatorn “The E-commerce Landscape in ASEAN and China: A Virtual Bridge between the World’s Largest Market and ASEAN’s Emerging Markets,” describes the spirit of ongoing trends and the situation of e-commerce markets of ASEAN countries in mainland China, given the rising prominence of the e-commerce sector in both regions. The authors’ work examines the movements of notable players ranging from global and regional powerhouse platforms to the small C2C interactions within ASEAN and China. The general properties and trends of e-commerce in both regions are addressed so as to provide useful information on the matter, followed by an examination of important issues that are the determining factors of success and failure in the e-commerce sector.
The chapter began with illustrations of the current situation of e-commerce and the present outlook of the ASEAN market, and then proceeds specifically to address the Thai and Chinese markets as a case study. The dominance of regional power players, like Lazada, and the regional-global market leader, the Alibaba Group, and their strategic links are analyzed, as these seem to define an important chain of events in the changing landscape of regional e-commerce. Subsequently, the chapter provides policy implications in terms of e-commerce itself, start-up ecosystems, and the ensuing policy consideration for addressing the ongoing and future situations in ASEAN and Asian e-commerce markets. With the ongoing momentum of intra-regional and extra-regional e-commerce waves, the public sector will need to facilitate growth of technology entrepreneurs, start-ups and platform providers, and, above all, human talents, while the private players should adopt and utilize technological capabilities and seek out strategic assets, which are skilled technical talents, innovation, and well-established networks of consumers.
1.3.Conclusion
Summarizing the 13 contributions to this volume, China’s rising influence in mainland ASEAN may be described as a bundle of past experiences and “upcoming” scenarios. A plausible augmented role of China as the “hydro-hegemon” of the Mekong River Basin is a possible avenue for sub-regional cooperation that, asymmetrical, though it is, needs to be taken up with great care in mainland ASEAN. No wonder the Lancang–Mekong Cooperation scenario, which was recently established, has brought about coverage of areas and action plans, while the countries concerned are still in doubt about this broad cooperative mechanism. As for implications and responses, trans-border human mobility and its impact could be part of the BRI China’s outbound policy with a new wave of Chinese migrants. This is the case in point for Thailand, and it could also happen elsewhere in the Southeast Asian region. China’s influence in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar has far reaching implications for ASEAN’s sovereignty and its collective action, in addition to the efforts of each country to deal with a rise in economic standing, foreign policy, and social adaptation.
The recent changing landscape of China’s rise in mainland ASEAN is clearly shown in trade, investment, and even the external debt, in which regard the Southeast Asian countries have come to rely on increasingly with China (The World Bank, 2009).1 Vietnam’s perspectives on these aspects are clearly shown in the complexity that there would be if the country were swept into such increasing trends. The Lao cases on FDI are also interesting, both in terms of its determinants and policies and, in particular, the mining sector. These have made been possible with connectivity and integration, a result of ASEAN and China linkages that have become more closely knitted, through China’s own BRI and each of ASEAN’s opening up policies.2 A review of Dian-Viet Railway described in detail along with its metaphorical past, from the French colonial era, has tremendously helped to imagine the human factor for this cross-passing border. If that is the way to the future, more land logistics and transportation from Southern China will be connected to the mainland Southeast Asian region. This will also include the upcoming trends and challenges of e-commerce from China to the whole landscape of ASEAN, with different players, from firms and consumers down to policymakers, becoming much more involved.
This volume aims to fill a gap in knowledge and understanding about country and regional experiences in dealing with China’s rising influence. It takes the complete perspective from local experts in each region. The attempts were part of the Bangkok Conference at Chulalongkorn University in 2018, which suggested the topics and content of this volume merit dissemination to a larger and wider audience in the form of publication. In the process, it raises issues and major questions for fact finding and future research.
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1An excellent publication to learn on how markets shape the economic landscape. The World Bank (2009). Reshaping Economic Geography. Washington, DC.
2For a deep illustration of mapping connections from historical period to the present day, please see Dutta, A.K. & Chaudhury, A.B.R. (eds.) (2019). Connecting Nations: Political-Cultural Mapping of India and South East Asia. Primus Books, Delhi, India.
Chapter 2
