<p>Over the past decade, an increasing number of Chinese faculty members from non-double first-class universities and vocational colleges, particularly those working in social sciences, arts, and humanities, have pursued doctoral degrees in ASEAN developing countries. To investigate their decision-making process, we interviewed 20 such individuals and adopted Lin, Wang, and Shen’s (2024) Access-Experience-Outcome model as the analytical framework to guide the data analysis. The findings reveal that unlike self-directed student mobility, academic mobility embedded in career development operates on a different set of logic, which is characterized by instrumental demands and pragmatic benefits. A Demand-Perception-Benefit model is thus constructed to delineate the factors involved. Specifically, Chinese faculty members’ decisions of pursing doctoral degrees and selecting ASEAN as their study destination are shaped by three dimensions of factors—the demands for enhanced academic qualifications at governmental, institutional, and individual levels; the perceptions of host countries, institutions, and programs; and the anticipated benefits for themselves and their home institutions—and are often constrained by the dual pressure of economic and scholastic capital. Notably, while Chinese faculty members’ pursuit of doctoral degrees in ASEAN developing countries represents South-South academic mobility, it paradoxically reinforces the Western dominance in the global higher education landscape, underscoring the persistent education inequalities between the Global South and the Global North. We therefore call for more indigenous knowledge circulation between ASEAN and China to foster the development of a more inclusive, equitable, and multi-polar ecosystem for knowledge production.</p>