US Or China: Will Southeast Asia Have To Pick A Side? | When Titans Clash | Ep 4/4 | CNA Documentary

what i'd make china do is play by the international rules over the past four years the sino-us rivalry has been boom and bane for southeast asia it's no secret that vietnam has benefited significantly from the china trade war the trajectory of the relations is not something that we would welcome because in a half war scenario we are right in the middle don't let the chinese communist party walk over us and our people we don't want to be fox to have to choose because there is no winner amid mounting pressure for countries in the region to pick a side asean states straddle a tightrope caught in the throes of a clash between titans [Music] [Music] southeast asia a vast melting pot of cultures and influences [Music] [Applause] [Music] eleven countries shaped by centuries of trade and episodes of western imperialism one country stands out among the pack the philippines it's the only country to have been colonized by the united states the american occupation left a deep and lasting legacy on the philippines it's especially pronounced in angeles city [Music] also known as little america anglais prospered from hosting american soldiers serving at the nearby clark air base the u.s ran the facility from 1903 to 1991. from the 1970s up to late 80s especially in balibago [Music] situations angeles's heyday ended abruptly in 1991 a volcanic eruption coupled with strong anti-colonial pressure forced the american air force to abandon clark and take flight permanently [Music] it's been 30 years since they left but romeo vinales who works for the city's oldest restaurant still waxes lyrical about the u.s soldiers who used to dominate this former boom town picture it was taken with back 1983. about their plights [Music] because of our friendship some call it a colonial hangover others see it as an eternal love affair whatever one's opinion the american heritage continues to influence how filipinos view international affairs especially sino-us competition between the chinese and the americans i would have the filipinos choose the americans because americans have always been there for for the philippines janet alford is one of thousands in angeles born from mixed marriages between american soldiers and local filipinos she now works for an association which supports american war veterans residing in the philippines i tend to always go back to history because time and time again when the philippines is in need our american brothers and sisters they're there to help us douglas mccarter said i shall return and sure he did he did return and liberated the filipinos from the japanese especially but when clark was here there's a lot of community activities going on as far as volunteering giving back and all that and until now just as filipino's ties with the u.s are steeped in history relations with china go a long way back too neighboring manila is home to the world's oldest chinatown established in the late 1500s it's a symbol of over five centuries of trade and commerce with china and today china ranks third amongst countries contributing the most to the philippines trade and investment [Music] one of the places the chinese are parking their money is the old clark air base since 2016 this site has been redeveloped by the philippine government with the help of investors from around asia as new clark city when completed it will house a mix of residential commercial and industrial facilities it's also slated to become the new political capital of the country has already been announced by the president all national government agencies to put up their backup offices in the nuclear city so that in case of emergency in case of calamity they can still operate ronaldo katukutan is the mayor of kappa city which houses most of new clark as already been projected after each development there will be at least 1.2 million job opportunities within the nuclear city alone a lot of filipinos now are working as caregivers house workers in the different countries so giving them the opportunity the nuclear city many hotels many industrial area instead of flying to different countries and also some professionals need to go to manila as of now we had a lot of chinese investors also here migrated here and then eventually they become a natural filipino citizen they are really good [Music] but these plans have raised eyebrows across the country filipinos have long protested against china's activities in the south china sea where both countries are embroiled in a territorial dispute in 2016 many in the country celebrated a landmark decision by an international tribunal which dismissed beijing's sprawling claims in the south china sea it's nice to become friendly to enable country but i want to give emphasis that we should not abandon our right as we already won the case so we should by all means involve our sovereign right to this particular area now the government of the united states of america used to respect that they assure us even that if someday china will not honor the international decision which is we want in the west philippines or they will help us and they will protect the philippines given clark's strategic location just off the south china sea news of chinese cash flowing into the old american air base has attracted some controversy ramel ong is a retired rear admiral from the philippine navy he now teaches at the prestigious ateneo school of government he weighs in on whether chinese investment in new clark city will impact his nation's security in a way it's no longer viable as a military facility now whether it would be a slap on the face of the united states i think the best way for them is also to invest in that area because economic development if you treat it in a logical way is neutral in terms of nationality it's whoever brings in the money to be able to develop that area would be the one you would be able to cater to we are hoping that whether you are a chinese or any other foreign nationals investiga like most people here janet is torn between development and conservation when you go into clark now the remnants of what was clark is slowly eroding it's totally different because it is going to be very commercialized we need the money right okay we're opening our doors for investment but then at the same time we need to do good by the filipinos [Music] she's worried that the government will become overly reliant on chinese investment to build new infrastructure a 500 hectare business park to be developed by the chinese on the old clark airfield stands out in particular if we rely solely on china they're just going to come in like a big bully it's going to be challenging because we have already opened the doors for a lot of their investments and then they kind of took over already if they want to invest they are welcome this is a two countries agreement if the city of kappas will benefit out of this 500 hectares development as long as it will create the job opportunities and they will respect they will respect our philippine i would say culture and even our traditions since coming into office in 2016 president duterte has made infrastructure development a priority to help realize his grand vision known as the build build build scheme he has secured billions of dollars in pledged infrastructure funding from china we're talking about road bridges flood control projects school buildings we partner with china in the same way that we partner with japanese and korea we evaluate projects by their proposals if there are best practices that are available elsewhere then i think the philippines should grab every opportunity to improve its current infrastructure in reality most of the pledged money from china has yet to materialize but observers believe this will have little effect on president duterte's pivot to beijing which has come amid intense competition between the u.s and china for influence over southeast asia both superpowers regard the region as a key plank in the international trading system beijing doesn't respect the fundamental democratic values for those enshrined in the asean charter don't just speak up but act don't let the chinese communist party walk over us and our people everybody in southeast asia is in a tug of war situation right now they're all trying to balance the relations with china and the united states and that behavior is uh i would say explainable in the sense that china is china is proximity to us they are our next-door neighbors and everything that china does affects us admiral ong says a recent decision made by president duterte reveals stirrings in the diplomatic melange in february 2020 he canceled the visiting forces agreement between the philippines and the united states also known as the vfa the agreement is over 20 years old it facilitates shoulder to shoulder military exercises between the two countries it also allows the united states to deploy troops and vessels into the philippines in response to threats in the region without bfa you have basically removed that balance that you want to aspire for in terms of relations with the united states in china balancing security relates to the united states and balancing great relations with china when you accept that balance by removing one counterweight then you are shifting basically everything to one side which is to relations with china in july 2020 president duterte reversed course on the decision to cancel the vfa however he continues to use the agreement as a bargaining chip in exchange for favors from the us his latest demand covet 19 vaccines this has raised questions on whether the political game that the government is playing would put the region's security at risk only the united states currently has the means to be able to secure the asia pacific at this asia-pacific waters from any contentious issues on the maritime front there is no other country within southeast asia that has the capability and the will to enforce international law we're not only talking about the physical force of physical capability but also the strategic intent and the strategic will to be able to deliver a peaceful environment in the region nestled in the heart of ho chi minh city's downtown is this iconic restaurant pho 2000 is a household name across the country not just for the signature noodle broth but because of a visit from a famous american in the year 2000 for a acting u.s president to visit vietnam not really a historical event that marks you know the beginning of the new future and the new diplomatic relationship between the two countries is also open up a new future of cooperation between the two countries and its peoples and i felt lucky that faux 2000 restaurant has been chosen to be part of that history and we were very proud of that u.s president bill clinton's visit officially signified the normalizing of relations between u.s and vietnam 25 years after the vietnam war [Applause] businessman alain tan also remembers it as the moment the world found out that communist vietnam was open for business the fact that you know we are now doing business with practically every country in the world now that i believe is is a very best thing to happen to vietnam as a country and as far as and the vietnamese people and and to also the vietnamese the business community we all benefit from that whenever there is a trade work trade tension trade embargo economic roadblock between countries two countries i think it's a sad story as far as business is concerned because business now is global for a small businessman like me in a very humble food and beverage business to take side to choose we don't want to be forced to have to choose because there is no winner today vietnam's economy is heavily reliant on america the country makes 60 billion dollars a year selling goods to the us its biggest export market and this steady flow of american money has trickled down to the everyday man trung chihuang is one of millions of vietnamese factory workers who work for firms that manufacture products for the u.s over the years he worked his way up to become the department head of an american furniture factory [Music] foreign even in the midst of a pandemic vietnam remained one of the world's fastest growing economies in 2020 it's not just america that vietnam has to thank for that impressive statistic in recent years the rise of china has created new opportunities for the southeast asian nation china is now vietnam's top trading partner with two-way bilateral trade valued at over a hundred billion dollars china ranks third in the list of largest investors in vietnam the united states is notably absent from the top three [Music] despite this many vietnamese still favor strong relations with the united states over china part of this distress of beijing flows from recent tensions in the south china sea [Applause] and public outrage over how vietnamese fishermen have been treated by chinese ships in the disputed waters foreign [Music] china one of sending the message is very clear china is strong and powerful we're going to defend safeguard china's national interests and china's territorial integrity including the south china sea no matter what it will cost china regard the south china sea issue as a core national interest alongside with social impaired and taiwan issue right so use the president xi right china will not give an inch of territory left behind by the ancestor the case of the vietnamese fishermen was picked up by the united states in july 2020 the trump administration broke from the us's long-standing neutrality in the territorial disputes it threw its support behind the southeast asian claimant states and branded beijing's claims in the south china sea as unlawful the u.s also redeployed troops and aircraft carriers to southeast asia and stepped up military drills in the region china responded with drills of its own [Music] foreign newly elected u.s president joe biden is expected to continue championing freedom of navigation in the south china sea but details of the depths he will go to defend it are still murky in the meantime beijing stands ready for any confrontation right now the trajectory of the relations between us and china is not something that we would welcome because it's it's uh headed towards conflict we are right in the middle of it so i think the best option is how to prevent a hardware and that means being able to put in place a mechanism that would allow the two major powers to talk instead of fighting i think the best way but the harder way is if asean as a multilateral organization would step up and be a more proactive player in terms of defining how the regional security environment will take shape currently all 10 asean member states are negotiating a code of conduct for navigating the disputed waters china has pledged to work closely with asean to realize this it hopes to have the code ready by 2021. there's a lack of so-called trust between the asean countries and china so that's in china's interest to speed up the negotiation the coc so to lower the temperature the lower the tension china want to focus on the united states they want to have stable and friendly relation with the neighbor the asean that's very important for china when we know foreign foreign asean is pushing ahead with the code of conduct aiming towards a stronger more united approach to regional security however on the economic fund recent developments in the trade war have heated up competition among members of the regional block we're taking in billions of dollars of tariffs in the old days we made our product and we took our product and that's what it was now we go to china we buy it not anymore and if they don't want to pay tariffs make it here or buy it from another country that's a non-tariff country the u.s china trade war has disrupted global supply chains [Music] but asean countries have found new opportunities amidst the chaos as factories moved out of china to escape u.s terrorists many set up in asean one destination in particular seemed especially inviting [Music] vietnam is an entrepreneur's paradise it's an easy place to take a risk without a lot of capital vietnam was already an attractive destination to decouple and to spread the supply chain risk for many buyers who were interested in helping support the consistency safety and reliability of their existing supply chain the trade war only seemed to accelerate this american businessman walter blocker has been running multiple companies in vietnam for over 20 years in 2018 he bought over stanley furniture founded in 1924 in north carolina its products were made in the usa until the 2000s then production moved to china now everything's made in vietnam stanley's big move to vietnam reflects a growing reluctance among american investors to shift manufacturing back to the united states which was one of the main intents of president trump's trade war [Music] i think that companies have looked carefully at the cost of having more work done in the u.s at the end of the day companies are going to choose the most efficient both in terms of cost and time way to conduct their business vietnam has worked to create a safe platform for investment one of the key priorities of the government here has been to respect the needs of its people and bring broad benefits to the to a very large middle class that's emerging now out of poverty into one of the most prosperous economies in the region that works very well with the private sector because the government has worked with the private sector to listen and understand the needs of the investors and the needs of the job creators so that we can have a as harmonious as possible relationship but there's another relationship that's equally important to blocker [Music] well it's no secret that vietnam has benefited uh significantly from from the china trade war but it also brings challenges and the biggest challenge today is to understand the balance of trade and the trade deficit what is important is to have strong lines of communication shared interest and strategic goals between not just china and the us but the region in general to ensure that the independence and prosperity of all people in all economies whether they're big or small everyone or smaller everyone should have a chance to lead their lives and lead prosperity in safe environments [Music] over in neighboring thailand delta electronics headquartered in taiwan makes components for the likes of huawei and microsoft it's shifted some of its production from china to what is now southeast asia's other manufacturer's paradise delta thailand has been operating here since the 1980s it has six factories a seventh is well on the way overall yes it will cost you the money to acquire the land or rented land or you would need to do a lot of machinery setup and training of the people but i think it's quite nature it's just part of the business we actually get a lot of support from the governments thailand basically is a country very much welcome the foreigners and it's developing quite well as one of the center in the region the labor force in thailand is very stable and people they as long as you give them the good training and they will follow the guidance and they do a good job and from our point of view sometimes a stable labor force it does make a difference because it's the product you want to make sure people know how to deal with it how to handle it how to manufacture in it is a supervisor at one of delta thailand's six factories due to a recent spike in orders from the u.s she and her workers have been working harder to ramp up their company's output but she's not complaining gandhi [Music] [Music] these sentiments are shared across asean for the past two years countries in the region have been jostling to catch a share of the investment flowing out of china yuangzai asa has been leading the charge for thailand we would like to accelerate investment in thailand if companies can uh put in at least one billion baht of investment real investment in thailand after 12 months then they would get five years of 50 reduction of corporate income tax so we are now briefly looking for investments that would be using higher technology content and that would be creating more value added and we see that a lot of investments that are being relocated are exactly fitting our objectives if vietnam and thailand are the early victors of the trade war indonesia is arguably the biggest loser in the race to attract manufacturers seeking to bypass terrorists [Music] economist jose rizal is not surprised he recalls indonesia being one of the last to get on board china's infrastructure express train the belton road initiative there are several issues that make indonesia with joining the bill penrod initiative a little late in 2017 we conducted a survey on public perceptions on the economic issues they put china as the top countries that bring this advantage to indonesian economy but interestingly they also put the us as the second so indonesian indonesian public has this kind of uh strange perceptions toward the china and towards u.s today indonesia is making up for its late start it's actively courting foreign investments most notably from china one recent deal with beijing could be a lifesaver iwan setiawan works for biopharma the state-run pharmaceutical firm is working with the chinese to distribute the china-made sinovac vaccine in indonesia they've received nearly three million doses so far along with raw materials and the recipe for indonesia to reproduce the vaccine [Music] themselves indonesia was given priority access by china to its vaccine due in part because amongst countries in the region indonesia is most embattled by the pandemic the country was also chosen to be the distribution hub for synovac in southeast asia a useful step towards the government's plans for a national inoculation program in 2021 indonesia hopes to keep such meaningful collaborations going with china but like many other countries in the region it needs to balance this with its relations with the us the regional grouping asean could provide a possible solution for the past seven years china has been trying to cement its superpower status through the belton road initiative launched in 2013 it's beijing's grand invitation for countries to prosper together through cooperation and these collaborations have not been confined to just infrastructure china has invested heavily in the people of southeast asia too to win hearts and minds china has granted thousands of full scholarships to students in the region students from asean states now make up the biggest foreign student body in china at around 80 000. [Music] indonesian academic humphrey russell is one of thousands who enrolled in the china asean university network program he recently completed a six-year study trip in china sponsored by the chinese government he returned with a phd and a new perspective [Music] again [Music] humphrey now specializes in foreign affairs he feels the current relations between china and indonesia are the closest they've been in 30 years marked by the fact that both countries leaders met at least seven times over the past six years and had meaningful exchanges each time [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] these collaborations are helping indonesian president joko widodo deliver on his election promises of new and improved infrastructure in the country [Music] one key project that both indonesia and china are currently working together on is a 150 kilometer railway it will connect the capital jakarta with bandung an emerging business hub elsewhere in the world inertia has set in on other built-in road projects many are in disarray plagued by allegations of dead traps and destructive impacts on local livelihoods over the past two years the trump administration has played up these allegations as part of a plot to get countries to decouple from china no matter what you are saying i think asean stick to a certain principle the bi provide easier marquee assets for the asean goods to enter the chinese market and also help to speed up the infrastructure improvement in this region and also help local industry take on but there's a lack of transparency and also respect for the international recognized standard right we know that the cell country in this region actually spare enormous that pressure but i think that we should not underestimate right china's ability uh to learning about these criticisms so china know this right so i think it will take time it will take time to try to make this kind of so-called readjustment despite the best efforts from both superpowers to lure countries in the region to their respective sides the 10 asean states have collectively committed to remain neutral history teach us if we take sight to one of a major country in the world it's not benefiting for the people asean with the population more than 600 million it's a big market we are strong in the middle class us also focus on middle class the u.s government i said can provide a platform to put middle class to engage but now asean is number one training partner in china we not take a side because food is important for us in terms of economic and trade and investment career diplomat ade sarwono represents indonesia in asean while he is against member countries picking sides he believes asean can do more than sit on the fence in the face of conflict what we are we can do is to bring both powers in in the one table with us and and listen to us use the asean left mechanism we have already acr summit we have asean plus three we have asean regional forum we would like to see all work together corporate together rather than rivalry or conflicting and use their energy to implement compressor like for example uh one of connectivity infrastructure digitalization on trade policy so work with us our interest again and again is always want to make the our region stable and peaceful and so we can develop we can prosper we can set the rules of the road instead of having china and others dictate outcomes because they are the only game in town [Music] newly minted u.s president joe biden is expected to be tough on china yet his presidency marks a clean sheet for diplomacy between beijing and washington [Music] after more than a year grappling with fears of a hot war in their backyard the people of southeast asia are hoping for calm after the storm with this new administration that's going to come in i think he's a little bit more level-headed that him and his administration will be able to kind of defuse the arguments any issues or disagreements between the two sides so to speak thank you geopolitics will change leaders will change but business never change we need peace and stability so that our business can grow there are still many issues that china and the us need to work out between them and some of these issues may never be resolved but now is the time for both sides to seek common ground and find ways to foster healthy competition southeast asia looks forward to being part of this conversation and working together with both superpowers in doing so they hope to disentangle themselves from the dangerous tightrope they've been walking [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: CNA Insider

Views: 949,840

Keywords: CNA, CNA Insider, Channel NewsAsia, People stories, Asian perspective, When Titans Clash, documentary, US, China, US China, politics, trade war, Biden, Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, trade, Asia, Southeast Asia, Belt and Road, South China Sea, ASEAN, Philippines, Angeles, New Clark City, foreign investment, Duterte, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia

Id: lJ8A5jiGICM

Length: 47min 54sec (2874 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 29 2021