TOKYO — Southeast Asia is grudgingly open to helping European, U.S. and Japanese industries lessen their dependence on China, but needs to see more aggressive investment from them to do so, the head of a regional business lobby told Nikkei Asia.
Arsjad Rasjid, chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC), lamented that companies in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations are being thrust into what he described as an “economic cold war” that has forced them to create “China and non-China” portfolios for their products.