Leaders of ASEAN and China thus decided to explore measures aimed at economic integration within the region[1][2] In Brunei the following year, they endorsed the establishment of an ASEAN–China Free Trade Area.

[7] China's transformation into a major economic power in the 21st century has led to an increase of foreign investments in the bamboo network, a network of overseas Chinese businesses operating in the markets of Southeast Asia that share common family and cultural ties.

[8][9] ASEAN members and the People's Republic of China had a combined nominal gross domestic product of approximately US$6 trillion in 2008.

[20] This reduction took effect in China and the six original members of ASEAN: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Indonesia accounts for more than 40 percent of the region's population, and its people have voiced the greatest amount of opposition to the agreement.