China’s bilateral trade with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) jumped by 5.6% to $299 billion during the first half of 2020, reflecting the growing development of the Belt and Road Initiative, of which all ten ASEAN nations are members.
The ASEAN grouping is now China’s largest trading. The nations of ASEAN are Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. During the first half of 2020, China’s trade with Vietnam leapt 18% and with Thailand by 9.2%. The trade involved products of electronics manufacturing, electricity generation, and also river and rail development.
Many nasty critics proclaim the Belt and Road is contracting or dying, but they are living in another world.
Though China’s world trade fell during the first quarter, it rose in the second, hoisted by ASEAN and the Belt and Road developments. Were the United States to join at a P-5 summit for the LaRouche New Bretton Woods, developing a health infrastructure for the world, and physical development of developing nations, it would swing into trade surplus.
