Ever since the National League for Democracy (NLD) was elected to government at the end of 2015, Myanmar’s economy has been opening up and quietly growing steadily. In an effort to open up its economy, the government in Myanmar has taken various steps in making the country more attractive to investors.

China is the largest trading nation in the world and was the fastest growing economy for 30 years until 2015. Like Rome, China wasn’t built in a day. It took the sweat, toil and blood of its citizens – from the failures of a Maoist Cultural Revolution to the widescale economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping – to raise the country to where it stands today.

It is no secret that China is fast expanding its influence within the Southeast Asian region as it attempts to win over nations by offering lucrative pipelines of investment and credit. Thus far, the principle benefactor of Beijing’s actions is Cambodia, which hasn’t been shy to admit that China is the country’s “most trustworthy friend.” However, often overlooked in this game of regional geopolitics is the landlocked country of Lao PDR.

In December last year, Sri Lanka formally handed over its strategic port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease after failing to pay its debt to Chinese firms. The port was first developed in 2008 with the financial backing of Chinese banks. However, it soon developed a reputation as a white elephant due to mounting losses.

With China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) now in the works, Singapore is not to be side-lined from this grand agenda.

Earlier this month, China’s National People’s Congress voted to abolish the presidential term limit, effectively allowing President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely over the world’s most populous country. Previously, under the Chinese constitution, Xi Jinping would have been required to leave office after two five-year term limits.

As both Japan and China seek to exert their geopolitical ambitions on the region, competition between the two countries is heating up.Japan – along with South Korea – is a key ally of the United States (US) in the region and plays a major role in the US’ plans of minimising Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Meanwhile, China are working hard to realise their Belt and Road Initiative projects.

India will be celebrating its 69th Republic Day celebrations on 26 January this year and for the first time ever, leaders of all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been invited as chief guests.This marks a huge step in ASEAN-India relations which would also be commemorated in a summit held at the same time.

The Pope comes to townThe biggest story this week was Pope Francis’ visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The Belt Road Initiative (BRI) is an ambition that undoubtedly turns heads and raises eyebrows – but for vastly different reasons.Plans are already underway – ports, roads, rail infrastructure, oil and gas pipelines, fibre optics networks – and slowly, China’s estimated five trillion-dollar ambition is taking shape.