The Association of South East Asian Nations hopes China will increase investment in the region, a senior ASEAN official has said.

In his speech at the Asian Financial Forum (AFF), which wrapped up in Hong Kong on January 14, Ngurah Swajaya, permanent representative of Indonesia to ASEAN, said the foreign direct investment from China to ASEAN jumped 117 percent from 2.7 billion USD in 2010 to 5.9 billion USD in 2011.

However, ASEAN still invested more in China than China's investment in ASEAN, he noted.

Ties between China and ASEAN have deepened in recent years. China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner since 2009 while ASEAN is currently China 's third largest trading partner.

Statistics show that bilateral trade between ASEAN and China increased from 232 billion USD in 2010 to 280.4 billion USD in 2011.

In 2012, leaders from both sides set the target of 500 billion USD by 2015 and 1 trillion USD by 2020.

VNA