By Ding Qingfen (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-08-08 14:01

There are still disputes over the development of the South China Sea, which are likely to take a toll on China-ASEAN relations, said Zai.

"Fortunately, China, Vietnam and the Philippines have taken an active approach to tackling these obstacle in a constructive way."

Also, China's total investments into the 10 ASEAN nations is relatively quite small, especially when taken as a proportion of China's total outbound investment, and in comparison to the level of investment in China from ASEAN states.

"The lack of balance in investment is a source of complaint for many ASEAN members," said Zai.

By the end of the first half of last year, China had invested $1 billion in ASEAN, versus the $40 billion invested in China by ASEAN.

"There are still numerous opportunities for Chinese businesses to increase investment in ASEAN," said Zai.

Since the 1980s, attracting foreign investment has been one of the nation's major tasks. But it wasn't until recent years that China began to look at investing overseas and the government started to encourage domestic firms to expand abroad.

"The key problem is few Chinese companies know enough about the on-going work to establish the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, let alone how they should use it to expand their business into Southeast Asia," Zhai said.

"But with the help of government authorities, hopefully more companies will become familiar with ASEAN and the possibilities of investment in Southeast Asia."

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