Gap in US-Sino influence in S-E Asia widening in China's favour

Singapore

CHINA continues to wield the most influence in South-east Asia, and the gap between perceived American and Chinese influence is widening in China's favour, going by the findings of a survey released on Thursday.

However, confidence among respondents that China would contribute to global peace, security, prosperity and governance is sliding. Of the roughly 1,300 individuals polled, 60.4 per cent said they had little to no confidence that China would "do the right thing".

The first time this survey was done in 2018, 51.5 per cent said they had little to no confidence about this.

The survey, done last November, was undertaken by the Asean Studies Centre at the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute. The respondents were from government, inter-government and international organ…