Opposition in ASEAN nations as China free-trade agreement comes into force

To help its exporters, China has halted the yuan’s gains against the US dollar from July last year. Last year the yuan remained largely unchanged against the US dollar, while Indonesia’s rupiah climbed 15.5 percent, Thailand’s baht advanced 4.2 percent and the Philippine peso increased 2.3 percent.

ASEAN includes Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. Wide economic disparity has hindered the group’s efforts to form a single market, as the purchasing power of the group’s four richest countries was 10 times greater than that of the other members last year, statistics on the bloc’s Web site show.