Japan Cooperates With and Challenges China Over Asia Infrastructure Influence

• 7 December 2018
• Construction Focus
• 1588 Views

Japan and China have agreed to cooperate on the highly competitive railway infrastructure sector in the Asian region, while Japan has unilaterally pledged support for 150 projects in the region in a bid to curb Chinese dominance via its One Belt Initiative (OBI).

The two nations plan to agree to enter into 20-30 joint ventures in the rail infrastructure sector, after the two nations have repeatedly clashed over the bidding for rail projects in the region.

Meanwhile, at the 10th Mekong–Japan Summit in Tokyo in October, Japan also agreed to fund 150 development projects in the five Southeast Asian countries who share the Mekong River. Provision of the “quality” infrastructure projects would be conditional on Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar supporting the “free and open Indo-Pacific strategy”, which is being promoted by the Japanese and American governments.

A joint statement from the summit said “It is essential to advance the industrial structure and improve the value-chain network in the Mekong region and beyond”.