James Kon
ASEAN has become China’s largest trading partner for the second consecutive year. Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand are China’s top three trading partners in ASEAN.
According to the Chinese Embassy in Brunei Darussalam, the trade volume of goods between China and ASEAN was USD878.2 billion in in 2021, reaching a year-on-year increase of 28.1 per cent. Among them, China’s exports to ASEAN were USD483.69 billion, reaching a year-on-year increase of 26.1 per cent; imports from ASEAN were USD394.51 billion, reaching a year-on-year increase of 30.8 per cent.
From the preliminary statistics in 2021, the direct investment in industries from China to ASEAN was USD14.35 billion. The top three destination countries for investment were Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.
In 2021, ASEAN’s actual investment in China was USD10.58 billion, of which the top three countries of origin for investment were Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
In 2021, the value of newly signed project contracting contracts by Chinese enterprises in ASEAN was USD60.64 billion, and the completed turnover was USD32.69 billion. In terms of newly signed contracts, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia are China’s top three project contracting markets in ASEAN.
