China’s Sphere of Influence

This map shows the portion of trade conducted by each country with China in
Southeast Asia

The influence that China has with nations in Southeast Asia is significant. Most
trade is in double-digit percentages, and China views this as its immediate sphere
of influence. Throughout history, territories in this region would even pay tribute
to China to gain access to trade.
In East Asia’s tribute system, China was the superior state, and many of its
neighboring states were vassal states, and they maintained a relationship of
tribute and rewards,” writes Liu Mingfu in The China Dream, a popular book about
China’s plans to return to power.
Maintaining influence in Southeast Asia is part of the reason that Beijing is
posturing in the South China Sea. In fact, China’s coastguard is growing so fast
that in 10 years it will have more tonnage than all of the coastguards in Southeast
Asia, the United States, and Japan combined.
Building a New Silk Road for Chinese Trade

China seeks to increase trade ties with Asia and Europe even further by building a
new Silk Road that puts even Marco Polo’s route to shame.
The Chinese transcontinental network, a massive infrastructure project pegged for
completion by 2025, is expected to bring down overland travel time from Beijing to
London to just two days. Currently, it takes 15 days for the journey.
The project’s aim is to shorten the time of bulk consumer-goods transport to
Europe, while unlocking the economic potential behind Eurasian cities from Almaty
to Tehran. The new Silk Road will include at least one high-speed line that goes
320 km/h, and the network will help to link up 70% of the world’s population in
roughly 40 countries.
Infrastructure Override
You may have heard of the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank), which was
officially launched at the end of last year. Initially proposed by China, the bank
now has over a $100 billion of capitalization and 57 founding member states.

While this shows China’s push for infrastructure especially to coincide with its
new Silk Road, there is another very interesting detail: Beijing controls 26.06% of
the votes, essentially giving it veto power as most bank decisions need 75% of the
votes to pass.