The city of Asheville itself is left leaning but the county it is in is full of blue collar republican families that are culturally similar to the rest of Appalachia.

working with Thailand to build a canal that would bypass the straight of Malacca all together

This is a crazy pipe dream by the Thai PM, China has nothing to do with it. It doesn't make any sense to unload ships in Thailand, move them by train across the peninsula, and then reload them onto ships. They can go via other routes in Indonesia if they don't want to go through the straight of Malacca for some reason. The Thai PM is just jealous that all the shipping trade (and money) goes to Singapore and Malaysia because it is easier for the boats to stop there.