bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Ron Corben

President Barack Obama’s arrival in Laos for the Asean leaders’ summit this week coincides with a struggle by Laos’ communist party leadership to emerge from the shadow of China’s influence.
China plays a key role in Laos’ economic transformation, with current investments in 760 projects worth US$6.7 billion. Laos’ annual growth rate has soared to 7.8 per cent, lifting per capita income to US$1,730 last year, helped in large part by Chinese investment.
Barack Obama’s trip to Laos coincides with new government’s shift away from China to Vietnam
“Laos is really a client economy if you will,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. “It has ties to Vietnam, to Cambodia, and broader Asean but China is really the main partner-patron.”

And that is a label Laos is trying to tear off as it seeks a balance in its foreign policy. It helps that the United States is reaching out as well, as part of its ‘pivot to Asia’ policy. Obama will be the first US president to visit Laos, his historic trip highlighting how the US and China are jockeying for influence in Southeast Asia.
Obama to meet Philippines’ Duterte at Laos summit
“Landlocked Laos is in a most challenged position. It has larger neighbours all around it and it is too small a place to have any critical mass. It is susceptible to neighbourhood influence and interference,” said Thitinan. “But it is hedging. It is fully in China’s orbit but is showing some leveraging by cosying up a little bit to the Americans and also the Vietnamese.”

Given China’s sway on the economy, any veering away from its sphere of influence is bound to be a tightrope walk for Laos. From Vientiane’s buzzing construction sites to the northern border provinces of Luang Prabang, Oudomxay, and Bokeo, China’s place in Laos’ economy is omnipresent, most notably in the form of signs in Chinese characters. In the border regions’ special economic zones, Chinese is the main language.
Laos assures US it will help counter Chinese assertiveness
The Asian Development Bank’s Vientiane-based economist Shunsuke Bando said that while Thailand and Vietnam were still key investors, “the investment [landscape] is totally dominated by China”.
In May, the World Bank noted China was seen as “having an increasing influence on the external balance and the overall economy”.

Moves are afoot towards the construction of the 427km, US$6.04 billion rail line linking Vientiane to the Chinese border that analysts say leaves Laos with a hefty financial burden in loans from China.
Last year, China accounted for over 40 per cent of Laos’ public external debt, up from 35 per cent in 2012, pushed up by funding on infrastructure and power projects. Of Laos’ nine hydroelectric dams planned in the Laotian Mekong, Chinese developers and investors are involved in at least four.
The rising debt burden, as well as the risk of overdependence on a slowing economy, is forcing Laos’ Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to boost business ties with neighbours Cambodia and Thailand to diversify trade.
Two-way trade between Laos and China had jumped from US$1.3 billion in 2011 to US$3.6 billion by 2014, but slowed to US$2.78 billion in 2015, in part due to the slower global economy and tighter restrictions on timber exports from Laos.

For the Laos leadership, especially those including the prime minister who came to power earlier this year, it is economically imperative to rebalance regional ties. But Laos, which chairs Asean, finds itself in a particularly precarious position as China is trying to influence Asean to support its position on the South China Sea. Beijing has rejected the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling that denied China’s claims over the region.
Laos’ secretive Communist Party gathers to pick leaders
Carl Thayer, a defence analyst at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said the Laos foreign policy strategy was to maintain a degree of diplomatic independence. “As much as you can find a Chinese influence, you get a counter-reaction because of the heavy-handedness of the Chinese on the ground,” Thayer said. “I don’t think China can force Laos to do anything Laos doesn’t want to do as Asean chair,” he said.
Resetting ties with the US is hence a priority for diplomatic and economic counterbalance. But in contrast to China’s overwhelming economic and business presence, trade with the US amounts to just US$70 million.

In February, the US and Laos signed a trade and investment framework agreement, establishing a forum to discuss trade and investment issues. Some 58 per cent of US companies with ties to Laos hope to expand their workforce in Laos, says the American Chamber of Commerce’s 2017 Asean business outlook survey. This year the survey found 17 per cent of companies were planning to diversify “some investments or businesses over the next two years from China into Laos”.
Michael Fuchs, a senior fellow at the Centre for American Progress, writing in the New Republic, said while Laos remained “deeply sceptical of the United States, it is willing to have warmer ties with Washington”. Fuchs said the attraction to the US was deeper than a hedge against China. The US had many areas attractive to “countries like Laos” such as business investment, US education and as a “model for human rights and democracy”.
Obama will be the first ever US president to visit Laos - decades after America bombed it with more than 2 million tons of ordnance  
But Martin Stuart-Fox, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Queensland, said Laos’ concerns lay in balancing relations between China and Vietnam rather than with the US. “Laos has always tried to keep a bit of a balance between Vietnam and China,” he said, “and I think the Americans would come in only because the Vietnamese seem to be in their dispute with the Chinese over the South China Sea.”
Chulalongkorn’s Thitinan, however, said Laos’ key long-term relationship in countering China’s influence was Japan, which was already a major financier in regional development and carried “a lot of weight in the region”.
“The US is going to make a lot of waves as Obama comes in – a large show – before his term expires,” he said. “But in the longer term, it’s really the Japan-China relationship [that’s important]. If Laos wants leverage then the country they want to lean more on would be Japan.”
Ron Corben is an Australian journalist who has been based in Thailand since 1989


Can Obama help Laos emerge from China’s shadow?

US President Barack Obama and Laos' President Choummaly Sayasone at the Asean meeting in California in February 2016. Photo: AFP

This picture taken on May 28, 2016 shows bomblets from a cluster bomb hanging at the Visitor Centre of COPE, a Laos charity working with the Ministry of Health specialising in limbs for amputees, in Vientiane. The legacy of the secret bombing campaign the United States conducted in a sideshow to the Vietnam War and its enduring consequences will feature prominently during a visit September 2016 by Barack Obama, the first ever by a US president to Laos. During the trip he is expected to announce the ramping up of a US programme to clear unexploded devices, echoing similar moves Washington took in Vietnam as relations between the two former foes blossomed. / AFP PHOTO / ALISON MCCAULEY / TO GO WITH AFP STORY LAOS-US-DIPLOMACY-CONFLICT-OBAMA,FOCUS BY CORALINE MOLINIE

US President Barack Obama walks from Marine One to board Air Force One prior to departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, August 31, 2016, as he travels on a 9-day trip to Nevada, Hawaii, Midway Island, China and Laos. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB

This handout picture released by the Foreign Ministry of Japan on May 26, 2016 shows Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith (front) goes down the steps upon his arrival at the Chubu Centrair International airport in Tokoname city, Mie prefecture to attend the Group of Seven summit in Ise Shima. World leaders kicked off two days of G7 talks in Japan on May 26 with the creaky global economy, terrorism, refugees, China's controversial maritime claims, and a possible Brexit headlining their packed agenda. / AFP PHOTO / Foreign Ministry of Japan / HO

This picture taken on June 2, 2016 shows workers from COPE (Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise), holding a prostetic leg at a mobile clinic in Xieng Khoang. The school holidays had only just begun when Viet became one of the latest casualties of the United States' secret bombing campaign in Laos.The 13-year-old was helping his family clear fields in early June when his shovel disturbed one of the millions of cluster bomblets that still litter his homeland.The legacy of that war and its still palpable present day consequences will feature prominently during a visit next week by Barack Obama, the first ever by a US president to Laos. The legacy of the secret bombing campaign the United States conducted in a sideshow to the Vietnam War and its enduring consequences will feature prominently during a visit September 2016 by Barack Obama, the first ever by a US president to Laos. During the trip he is expected to announce the ramping up of a US programme to clear unexploded devic

This picture taken on June 3, 2016 shows 13 year-old Viet (L) lying in recovery at a hospital with his brother after losing several fingers to an unexploded bomblet in Xieng Khoang. The legacy of the secret bombing campaign the United States conducted in a sideshow to the Vietnam War and its enduring consequences will feature prominently during a visit September 2016 by Barack Obama, the first ever by a US president to Laos. During the trip he is expected to announce the ramping up of a US programme to clear unexploded devices, echoing similar moves Washington took in Vietnam as relations between the two former foes blossomed. / AFP PHOTO / ALISON MCCAULEY / TO GO WITH AFP STORY LAOS-US-DIPLOMACY-CONFLICT-OBAMA,FOCUS BY CORALINE MOLINIE

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Historic visit may be a boost, but Vientiane’s economic reliance on its giant neighbour means it faces a tightrope walk in counterbalancing Chinese influence


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