Straits Times Interactive reports today on an "optimistic" view on South East Asian economies despite the increasing competitiveness of China.

Increasing competition from China is forcing South East Asia to re-evaluate their competitive strategies. For many traditional low-cost/medium to high value manufacturing economies like Malaysia and Thailand, the threat is the highest, as their costs look particularly uncompetitive against China, and perceived quality does not match those of Singapore, Korea, and Taiwan.

Competitive strengths like Engish speaking populations (Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines), political stability (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand) and transparency (Singapore) also hold high value to foreign operations and investors.

Extract: European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has offered an optimistic view of the South-east Asian economy despite increasing diversion of investments to China, saying the region had democracy as one of its assets.