US, China, and Japan Are Cutting Aid to South-East Asia

Three of the world's biggest economies — the United States, China, and Japan — are all sending less money to help countries in South-East Asia. New research from a group called the Lowy Institute shows that aid to the region fell by nearly 10 percent in 2024, dropping to about $26 billion US dollars. That is the lowest amount in ten years. Experts say the situation could get even worse in the years ahead.

The Lowy Institute publishes a report called the South-East Asia Aid Map. One of its lead authors, Rahul Nath, said the map painted a pretty grim picture that was not getting any rosier. He said that countries that used to give a lot of aid are pulling back, and China is not stepping in to replace that money. This is leaving some of the region's poorest nations with less support than before.

Japan cut its funding to the region by about $1.5 billion US dollars in 2024. Part of the reason is that loans Japan gave out during the COVID-19 pandemic have now been fully paid back, and some big building projects have come to an end. China also reduced its funding by almost a quarter in the same year, bringing its total down to about $5.3 billion. Dr. Nath said China had learned from mistakes it made in the past decade, when it lent large sums for major projects.

Some of those Chinese-funded projects caused problems for local communities. Workers from South-East Asia were sometimes left out of jobs, and a few projects hurt the environment. Because of this, governments in the region became more careful about taking on big loans from China. Dr. Nath said China is also dealing with slower growth at home, which makes it less likely to spend heavily abroad.

The United States has also been pulling back its aid. The report shows that US aid was already going down before President Donald Trump made deep cuts in 2025. The OECD has predicted that aid from developed countries could fall by 23 percent overall. Dr. Nath said the full effect of the US cuts will show up in future versions of the Aid Map.

With individual countries giving less, groups like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are becoming more important. These are called multilateral institutions, meaning they are run by many countries working together. In 2024, they provided almost half of all the aid money flowing into South-East Asia. Dr. Nath said these groups are useful because they do not change their plans based on politics in any one country.

However, there is a serious risk that these organizations could be stretched too thin. As more governments cut their aid, these big groups are being asked to do more work with the same amount of resources. Dr. Nath also warned that the region is becoming more open to harm from climate change and energy crises. He said the poorest countries in South-East Asia will feel the most pressure if aid keeps falling.