BRI signals a shift in China’s foreign policy and a departure from its long-held low-profile approach. Since Xi came to power in 2012, the Chinese government has adopted a far more proactive foreign policy stance, driven by global thinking. BRI serves as the key driver to advance China’s interests overseas and demonstrates China’s growing confidence and aspirations to be a rule-shaper in the economic governance of the region and beyond. According to the official blueprint released by the Chinese government in May 2015, Southeast Asia is one of the priority regions for the improvement of physical connectivity under the BRI framework. In May 2017, on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, Xi met President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia individually. He stressed that the Philippines and Indonesia are both important partners under BRI and that China wants to achieve a win-win development outcome by deepening cooperation on infrastructure construction, trade, investment, and people-to-people exchange. According to the agreements reached between these two countries during the visit of Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak to Beijing in November 2016, China could provide huge investments in the construction of the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park, Melaka Gateway port project, and the East Coast Rail Line located in Malaysia in the coming years. […] of rising Chinese investment, BRI could lead to China becoming the dominant force in determining the future economic landscape of Southeast Asia.