ASEAN-China economic relations is an area of considerable significance. Indeed, if anything, this significance has been increasing in recent years. Yet this relationship remains poorly understood, particularly in terms of the overall issues involved and their implications for individual countries and the region as a whole. It was partly to correct this state of affairs and to put ASEAN-China economic relations in their proper perspective that a group of ASEAN and Chinese scholars came together in April 1985 to plan a three-year research project on “ASEAN- China Economic Relations”. Three themes were identified: Phase I — ASEAN- China Economic Relations: Trends and Patterns; Phase II — Developments in China and ASEAN and Their Implications for ASEAN-China Economic Relations; and Phase III — ASEAN-China Economic Relations in the Context of Pacific Economic Development and Co-operation. The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and the Institute of World Economics and Politics, Beijing, are the co-ordinating institutions for ASEAN and China, respectively. Dr Chia Siow Yue is the Co-ordinator of the ASEAN aspects of the project and Mr Cheng Bifan, the Chinese aspects. Both Dr Chia Siow Yue and Mr Cheng Bifan are also the joint editors of the publications emanating from the project, with Dr Chia being responsible for the English edition and Mr Cheng Bifan, the Chinese edition.

The papers of the first phase of the project were presented at a workshop in Singapore in June 1986, and published under the title ASEAN-China Economic Relations: Trends and Patterns in October 1987. The research findings of the second phase were presented at a workshop in Beijing in October 1987. It is hoped that this second volume, ASEAN-China Economic Relations: Developments in ASEAN and China will also be useful to scholars and policy-makers concerned with ASEAN-China economic relations. The project on “ASEAN-China Economic Relations” has benefited immensely from the contributions of all participants, and from the financial support provided by the Ford Foundation and the International Development Research Centre, Canada. The Institutes would like to record their appreciation of all this assistance and support.