Struggle to Balance National Interests: China's High-Speed Rail Diplomacy in Southeast Asia

Since China proposed the going-out strategy of HSRs in 2009, China's HSR diplomacy has sparked heated debates about China's intentions. Fr om an economic diplomacy perspective, this article attempts to understand China's HSR diplomacy in SEA fr om four dimensions: context, process, theatre, and outcomes. Available second-hand data show that China's HSR diplomacy, with a consistent tendency as China's overall economic diplomacy over the past 70 years, tends to be more economic than political. In SEA, however, China's growing economic influence has been accompanied by a declining regional reputation. China's increasingly pragmatic approach to protecting its overseas economic interests without making sufficient efforts to handle local opposition mainly caused by environmental and social factors, has led to local Sinophobic sentiments. The conflict represents a microcosm of China's overseas railway projects under the BRI, where the country is attempting to balance the pursuit of economic benefits with the maintenance of a positive global image.