Through its economy, Beijing is expanding its influence in the world, especially in nearby Southeast Asia, acquiring ever-increasing power in comparison with the United States. Most recently, Malawi has recognised Beijing and turned its back on Taiwan, which accuses it of doing this for China's money.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) - China announced yesterday the establishment of regular diplomatic relations with Malawi, one of the 24 countries that still had relations with Taiwan. Beyond the news itself, which has already been known for some time, the interest is in the growing influence of Beijing, which is increasingly presenting itself as an alternative to Washington.

Relations with Malawi were re-established on December 28, and at the beginning of January this country cancelled a visit from Taiwanese foreign minister James Huang Chih-fang. Malawi was the largest of the countries that recognised the island as an independent state. Their numbers now fall to 23, most of them being small African, Central American, and Pacific Rim countries.

The African country, which is very poor, denied that Beijing had given it billions of dollars (perhaps as much as 6 billion) under the form of "aid", as denounced by Yang Tzu-pao, Taiwan's deputy foreign minister. Malawi made the standard declaration, that "there is but one China in the world" and that "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory".

But this event must be understood in the context of Beijing's expanding sphere of political, economic, and diplomatic influence, which has been achieved in part, observes a report from the Congressional Research Service, through "foreign aid, trade and investment". This is especially evident in Southeast Asia, a region to which, moreover, the United States is dedicating "waning or limited attention", while the widespread Chinese communities outside of the mainland "have long played important parts in the economies, societies and cultures of Southeast Asian states". It is calculated that the United States' imports from the countries of the region have grown only by 57% from 1997 to 2006, reaching 111 billion dollars, while China's have risen by 674%, to 89.5 billion in 2006. China's imports are expected to overtake those of the U.S. soon.

The scholar Joshua Kurlantzicj tells the South China Morning Post that "China may want to shift influence away from the United States to create its own sphere of influence, a kind of Chinese Monroe Doctrine for Southeast Asia [where] countries would subordinate their interests to China's, and would think twice about supporting the U.S.". In 1823, U.S. president James Monroe had proclaimed that foreign powers would not be permitted to intervene in the affairs of the Western Hemisphere.

For some time, Beijing has been giving significant economic support to Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, the poorest countries in the region. It has also loaned Vietnam large amounts of money for rail, hydroelectric, and shipping projects.

Since September 11, the U.S. has tried to establish good relations with Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, but nonetheless in 2005 Chinese president Hu Jintao and Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed an agreement of "strategic collaboration", together with a Chinese commitment to grant loans of about 300 million dollars. Even the Philippines, a traditional ally of Washington with which it has a security agreement, has reached important economic agreements with Beijing, which are essential for the development of its infrastructure.

• China
• Taiwan
• Malawi
• diplomatic
• relations