In addition, the politicisation of the pandemic in the form of a blame game ramped up especially in the first half of 2020. [...] The message read, “following the outbreak of the COVID-19 in China, the Lao party, government and all sectors of Lao society lost no time in expressing sympathy and solicitude to China for providing financial and material assistance, well embodying the spirit of the China-Laos community with a shared future.”13 Chinese companies also donated financial assistance to the region. [...] The Chinese embassies were unprecedentedly very active in sharing information concerning China’s responses to the pandemic, assistance to other countries, and the call for international solidarity in the fight against the pandemic. [...] REACTIONS FROM MAINLAND SOUTHEAST ASIA In terms of strategic trust and partnership, from the Chinese perspective, Cambodia and Lao PDR are in the first tier, Myanmar and Thailand in the second, and Vietnam in the third. [...] 66 ISSN 2335-6677 appreciated China for making the COVID-19 vaccine a “global public good” and pledged to build the Silk Road of Health and support the synergies and connectivity between the “Eastern Economic Corridor” with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.28 In April 2020, Chuan Leekpai, President of the National Assembly of Thailand, thanked China for helping Thailand and looked fo.
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