TOKYO: Japanese companies' investments in South-East Asia surged last year to almost three times the amount invested in China, after relations between Beijing and Tokyo soured in 2012 and Chinese labour costs rose, a government agency of Japan said on Friday.
Japanese companies invested 2.33 trillion yen (US$22.8bil) in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam last year, compared with 887 billion yen in China, Japan's largest trading partner, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), said.