China, Japan and South Korea pledge to support ASEAN’s tourism plan; Foreign investment drops more than 30 percent in Thailand; Indonesia frets external interference in South China sea;
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    • China, Japan and South Korea have pledged to support ASEAN's five-year tourism strategic plan. This was decided in the 10th ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3) tourism ministerial meeting on January 18, 2011. The support was made after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) tourism ministers endorsed the strategic plan in the 14th meeting of ASEAN tourism ministers. According to the statement, the strategic plan is to promote intra-ASEAN tourism marketing, to develop tourism products, to improve quality tourism among other things.1

    The value of foreign investment applications in Thailand fell 32.7% to US$7.8 billion in 2010, due mainly to domestic political unrest and an industrial estate freeze. According to the Thailand’s Minister of Industry Chaiwuti Bannawat, Thailand’s FDI in 2010 experienced constant growth in number.2

    Indonesia has expressed concern over possible interference by the United States and Japan in prolonged South China Sea territorial disputes. Indonesian said that it is worried the U.S. and Japan might interfere in the issues. China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all have overlapping or conflicting claims to territories in the Sea.3

    Meanwhile, reports noted that India and Indonesia will sign 34 memorandums of understanding, half of them on business and investment, during the visit of Indonesian President Susilo Bamgbang Yudhoyono. A 140-strong business delegation will be accompanying Yudhoyono to explore the potential for Indonesian investments in India. The other MoUs will cover cooperation in combating terror, extradition and exchange of information on criminal activities, culture and education.4

    In other developments, China's imports from ASEAN countries went up by 44.8 percent to $154.56 billion in 2010. According to the reports, since the establishment of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area at the beginning of 2010, bilateral trade had risen 37.5 percent year on year to $292.78 billion. ASEAN is China's fourth largest trading partner, after the European Union, the United States and Japan.5

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