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Joshua Meltzer, a senior fellow in the global economy and development programme at the Washington-based think tank, made the comments during a virtual discussion organised by the Centre for Globalisation Hong Kong on Tuesday.
He said the trend of countries looking to alternatives as a hedge against US uncertainty would continue in the short term.
“China is clearly going to try to make the most of this moment to be the alternative partner of choice for countries,” said Meltzer, a former consultant to the World Bank on trade and privacy matters.
“It is clear that a lot of these countries need to at least signal that they are speaking to China and then creating options for themselves so that they do not feel beholden or so exposed to [US President Donald] Trump.”
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He said that how the trend played out would depend on whether the Trump administration managed to stabilise on policy.
