Prospect of China's Energy Investment in Southeast Asia under the Belt and Road Initiative: A Sense of Ownership Perspective

Abstract

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted the world's attention since it was proposed. This study focuses on the BRI in the energy sector in ASEAN. It examines the current status of China's investment into ASEAN's energy sector. It then discusses the problems of China's investment into the ASEAN energy sector with two cases in Myanmar. In addressing the problems and challenges, the study adopts a ‘sense of ownership’ framework to analyze how to improve the acceptability of the Chinese investment. It argues that the BRI priorities, including ‘people-to-people bond’, provide an opportunity to bring a sense of ownership to the community networking that is to be built as a key part of BRI and more profoundly, an opportunity to establish a good image and to make investment projects successful.