BANGKOK - On Dec 3, one year after the launch of the US$5.9 billion (S$7.99 billion) Laos-China Railway, its management staged a lavish celebration outside the Vientiane passenger terminus. It unveiled a much-awaited mobile ticketing application, stacked with payment options through Chinese platforms – UnionPay, WeChat Pay and Alipay. But a payment option through Laos’ state-owned Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao Public was not on the list.

This omission by the Chinese majority-owned railway company underscored the kinds of hurdle faced by South-east Asian countries attempting to introduce some cohesion to projects often funded and controlled by a multitude of external parties. Chief among them is China, which, through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has backed high-profile developments such as the Laos-China Railway, Cambodia’s Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville Expressway, and Indonesia’s Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.