China-ASEAN trade up 4.8 pct in H1

Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grew 4.8 percent year on year to 220.69 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of the year, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Tuesday.

Investment between China and ASEAN hit 120 billion U.S. dollars at the end of June this year, with 80 billion U.S. dollars from ASEAN and 40 billion U.S. dollars from China, said Chen Zhou, an official of the MOC, at a press conference.

Among ASEAN members, Singapore has continued to lead in investing in China with 7.2 billion U.S. dollars in investment last year, Chen said.

Malaysia became the first among ASEAN members to handle more than 100 billion U.S. dollars in trade with China in 2013, as well as the third Asian country to handle more than 100 billion U.S. dollars in trade with China annually, after Japan and the Republic of Korea, he said.

Trade between China and ASEAN rose 10.9 percent to 444 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, exceeding the 7.6 percent increase in China's total foreign trade.

China is the largest trading partner of ASEAN and ASEAN has emerged as China's third-largest partner, a major investment destination and an important tourist destination.