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ASEAN must fight China's economic clout: Malaysia

Malaysia's deputy prime minister said Southeast Asian countries must transform themselves to combat the rising economic influence of China and India in the region, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Najib Razak, Malaysia's deputy prime minister, said the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations must "work harder" at structural reforms "to make the 21st century the ASEAN century," according to the New Straits Times.

Najib didn't elaborate in his comments on Friday to Malaysian journalists following an economic forum on East Asia.

He said, however, said the grouping shouldn't feel threatened by China and India, the fastest growing economies in Asia, because of ASEAN's enormous market size and its growing influence.

ASEAN countries -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- represent more than 548 million people.

"India, for instance, may be bigger than ASEAN put together in terms of population," Najib was quoted as saying. "But our purchasing power is still higher. The per capita income of the people of ASEAN is far greater than that of India."

But Najib said also warned of the disparities between ASEAN member nations and the need to help less developed countries catch up with the more developed ones.

Malaysian officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.
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