So, what expertise can China share? Firstly, both China and Asean have experience with rapid urbanisation, with China’s urbanisation rate at 60 per cent at end-2018 and Asean’s at around 50 per cent today. The government-funded Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore points out that Asean’s fastest-growing cities are its medium-sized ones, with population sizes ranging from 200,000 to 2 million, such as Vientiane, Davao, Denpasar, Makassar, Johor Bahru and Da Nang. These cities are urbanising at an unprecedented rate of more than 6 per cent annually, a rate that only Chinese cities come close to.

China brings with it the experience of crafting a rigorous urban master plan to create more than 250 low-carbon eco-cities with business opportunities and liveability. Likewise, Asean is working to incorporate environmental protection in urban development within the framework of its sustainable urbanisation strategy.

Secondly, China has built more economic centres than any other nation, transforming previous unknowns such as Hefei, Chengdu, Dalian, Chongqing and Wuhan into vital economic generators. Chengdu , for instance, grew its gross domestic product from US$137 billion in 2012 to US$206 billion in 2017, up by half in just five years. And it plans to add US$75 million in GDP by 2022 by focusing on six aspects of its new economy: digital, smart, green, creative, traffic and shared.

Further, China successfully maintains smart urban agglomeration across the country. The three most significant clusters – Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta – constitute around 40 per cent of China’s GDP. These agglomerations are supported by extensive corridors of smart infrastructure and labour supply, making them attractive to investment.

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea has escalated tensions between China and the Asean members of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Since a Chinese oil rig was deployed in the disputed region in 2014, Vietnam has seen anti-China protests and boycotts of Chinese products, factories and real estate projects.

Also, China, as a champion of zero carbon, leads clean energy projects in Asean but these can have unintended consequences. For example, China invests in about half of the hydropower projects in Laos but the Mekong river dams are often criticised as environmentally disastrous, disrupting fish migration patterns and blocking water flows needed to nourish farmland in the delta states of Cambodia and Vietnam.

China’s ambitious master plan to enhance regional connectivity through its US$1 trillion Belt and Road Initiative is still perceived with scepticism and met with warnings of debt trap.

For now, China appears to be a revisionist power threatening Asean stability. Its commitment to support Asean’s smart city initiative may be a step towards closing the trust gap and fixing China’s marred soft diplomacy. With enough determination, such a collaboration could lead to more fruitful partnerships.