Changing Regional Order and Railway Diplomacy in Southeast Asia with a Case Study of Thailand

Abstract

Laurids S. Lauridsen applies a Chinese proverb “two tigers cannot occupy the same mountain” to describe the situation related to the stronger participation of China in the evolving regional order. The author sees an emerging regional situation in which the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative has taken regional competition and infrastructure diplomacy to an elevated level. By examining an empirical case of high-speed railway projects in Thailand, this chapter seeks to analyse regional rivalry between Japan and China, and the evolving alternative regional order in terms of tangible forms of infrastructure development.