China Finds New Fans in Southeast Asia as U.S. Turns Inward

Bloomberg

11 December 2016

China is embracing Southeast Asia with a renewed trade and investment push, a trend that’s set to accelerate as the region grapples with the prospect of a more protectionist U.S. under Donald Trump.

Aside from courting Southeast Asian nations with a proposal for a trade pact, China has almost doubled foreign direct investment into the six biggest nations in the region this year, according to estimates from Credit Suisse Group AG. The world’s second-largest economy is already the top trading partner for most of the countries in the region.

… “Countries have to bite the bullet,” Harry Sa, a research analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said by phone from Singapore. “The fact of the matter is that China can do wonders for the economy and the countries in the region understand.” Most of them “do welcome that, even the countries that have tensions with China,” he said.

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