China - ASEAN Economic Statecraft Dataset

The intertwining of politics and economics presents a crucial question in foreign policy studies. Although China’s economic statecraft in other regions is well-documented, little is known about how Beijing utilizes economic instruments, especially official financing (COF), in Southeast Asia. What accounts for the amount of official financing that China commits to a Southeast Asian country in a given year? We argue that China’s economic statecraft in Southeast Asia is mainly driven by trade concerns. Statistical evidence from mixed-effects models using the most updated aid data between 2000 and 2021 suggests that COF in Southeast Asia is significantly influenced by the volume of imported Chinese goods into a country in the previous year.