A comparison and analysis of Japanese official development assistance to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, 2000 ― 2019

Abstract

Since 2000 the Mekong region of mainland Southeast Asia has been the focus of ASEAN attempts to promote “connectivity” among the economies and societies of the subregion and the broader region. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, less developed economically than neighboring Thailand, have been lumped together under the rubric of the CLMV and are seen as a nascent common group of developing countries. Connectivity in the Mekong region has been supported not only by ASEAN but by international actors, notably the Asian Development Bank and Japan. Aid from the latter is understood to foster not only subregional economic and social connectivity but also broader connectivity in the emerging Indo-Pacific ［Potter 2020］. A number of studies by practitioners have examined the possibilities and problems of development and Japanese ODA among these four as a group (see below) but fine-grained analysis of the aid provided has not been carried out previously. This article helps to close that gap in the research by providing an overview of sectoral and geographic distributions of Japanese ODA in each of the four countries from 2000 to 2019. Section 2 surveys the current state of research on Japan’s ODA to the Mekong countries. Section 3 presents the research methodology. Section 4 tracks changes in allocations by aid modality over the period, examines sectoral distributions of aid by modality in each country, and then does the same for geographic distribution of aid projects in each country. Section 5 provides a discussion of the correlation between these distributions and possible economic, political, and demographic variables.