China’s Investments in Southeast Asia Show Decoupling Difficulty

Chinese investments in Southeast Asian manufacturing are likely much higher than official data shows, underscoring the difficulty of any US attempt to box in Beijing or exclude Chinese-made goods from its supply chains.

Last year, there was $10 billion of announced greenfield manufacturing investment by Chinese firms in the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc, according to a report released Thursday by US research company Rhodium Group. That was down from the record $12 billion of new projects in 2023.

The Rhodium figure for 2023 was about double the officialtally from the Asean ...