Photo taken on July 29, 2022 shows an outbound freight train at a railway freight center in Wuzhou, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Launched in 2017, the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor is a trade and logistics passage jointly built by western Chinese provinces and ASEAN countries. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

Two-way investment between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) exceeded $340 billion at the end of July, as the two sides grew into the most active partners in terms of bilateral investment, an official from China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said at a press conference on Monday.

The growing investment between the two sides is a result of increasingly close economic ties between China and ASEAN members, as well as active diplomatic exchanges, which gave rise to many cooperative projects, experts said, predicting that China-ASEAN two-way investment would increase further with the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic 
Partnership (RCEP).

Li Fei, the MOFCOM official, said that a number of investment projects have been carried out between China and the ASEAN, such as the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a trade and logistics passage jointly built by Singapore and provincial-level regions in western China.

"China and members of the ASEAN have actively expanded cooperation in areas like the digital economy, e-commerce and green development, with their industrial and supply chains having closer connections," Li said at the press conference.

As of the end of 2021, China-ASEAN cumulative two-way investment amounted to about $300 billion. 

Gu Xiaosong, dean of the ASEAN Research Institute of Hainan Tropical Ocean University, said that China-ASEAN two-way investment has increased in recent years, particularly China's investment in ASEAN.

One important factor is that ASEAN is an important region of the Belt and Road Initiative, which pushed the construction of many China-invested infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia like the China-Laos Railway, Gu noted. 

By the end of July, Chinese enterprises had steadily carried out projects in ASEAN economies with cumulative turnover of more than $380 billion, MOFCOM data showed. 

Gu also noted that China might have the chance of participating in important infrastructure projects as Indonesia is considering moving its capital to a new region.  

China is quickening the pace of relocating some industries in Southeast Asia for reasons like rising domestic costs and fierce competition with the US, which created many opportunities for Chinese companies to invest in ASEAN markets. 

"With the landing of the mega trade bloc called RCEP, China might further arrange its industrial chain distribution with ASEAN economies under the RCEP framework. For example, Australian coal would be processed roughly and intensively in Southeast Asian countries and in China, and then exported to US and European markets," Gu said. 

According to Li, as China is pushing higher levels of opening-up, it will provide a wider market access and more development opportunities for countries, including ASEAN members.

China is scheduled to hold the 19th China-ASEAN Expo 2022 in Nanning of Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in September. 

Global Times