China most beneficial partner to Southeast Asia, survey reveals

China is still recognized and valued as the most beneficial economic partner to the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), according to the latest survey conducted by Jakarta-based think tanks.

The world's second-biggest economy gets the highest recognition in the region for its economic and development initiatives, notably through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), according to a survey done by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) and Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).

A total of 2,028 respondents from 11 Southeast Asian countries participated in the ASEAN People's Perceptions Survey 2024 held from Aug 19 to Nov 1, organizers said Thursday.

"Most of the respondents realize that China is going to be here. It is a reality that cannot be denied," Shofwan Albanna Choiruzzad, FPCI fellow and lead author of the survey, said at the Jan 30 forum in Jakarta.

"And it (China) will be here for a long time and become more and more important in the future."

The survey results revealed that 78 percent of the respondents recognized the BRI, surpassing Japan's Official Development Assistance (66 percent), Regional Comprehensive Partnership (63 percent), and US Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (53 percent).

Emilia Yustiningrum, head of the Research Center for Law at National Research and Innovation Agency Indonesia, said China had succeeded in developing a strong relationship with Indonesia. She cited how China approached Islamic universities in Indonesia such as UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya in East Java, which has a Chinese Corner and whose students have attended universities in China thanks to Chinese government funding.

The survey showed that China and the United States enjoyed high visibility in the Southeast Asian region. Survey respondents were asked about ASEAN's most and least trustworthy and its most and least reliable partner; the most beneficial partner for economic growth; the most relevant partner for the future of ASEAN; the partner to most likely politically interfere in Southeast Asian countries affairs; the most credible partner for the Global South; and the most reliable partner in times of crises.

Dino Patti Djalal, FPCI's founder and a former Indonesian ambassador to the United States, said the survey was conducted "to get a flavor of what people on the ground think about issues that we read about and we hear about in the news, and test those issues whether or not the population feels a certain way".

The first edition of the survey held in 2020 was about people's perception of ASEAN-China relations. It was followed in 2023 with the new name, "ASEAN People's Perceptions Survey and focused on four ASEAN Dialog Partners, namely China, India, Japan, and the United States.

In 2024, the survey included questions about five dialog partners, namely Australia, the Republic of Korea, the European Union, Russia and the United Kingdom.

Spica Alphanya Tutuhatunewa, an Indonesian diplomat, stressed the importance of ASEAN's dialog partners in launching development initiatives that have direct impact on Southeast Asia. She said in the Indonesian case, initiatives of dialogue partners need to strongly resonate with people in the provinces across the archipelago, and not only in Jakarta.

Tutuhatunewa said the Indonesian youth needs scholarships, noting that the country wants to have an "educated young generation". "This is the soft power that needs to be projected forward," she said,

Andrew Mantong, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Jakarta, said balancing economic and security issues in Southeast Asia is among the key points in ASEAN surveys, even those that were conducted by the CSIS.

Prime Sarmiento in Hong Kong contributed to this story.