As the epidemic spread to China, many feared the consequences for other Asian countries but severe restrictions on traffic, clear messages from governments and the involvement of experts have, at least so far, helped to contain the virus. The Guardian, in a long and detailed article, delves into the coronavirus situation in Southeast Asia, with a look to the future.

According to some of the most important Thai business associations, Thailand should participate in talks for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. This will allow the country to have access to more information about the agreement, so that it can adapt to the competition that will ensue, without necessarily having to join the agreement.

The undersecretary Manlio Di Stefano had a meeting with Indonesia's deputy foreign minister Mahendra Siregar. The meeting made it possible to take stock of the excellent state of bilateral relations and revealed the common hope of further strengthening relations, especially in the defense, agriculture, environment and energy sectors.

Indonesia is in talks with the U.S. government over the possible relocation of American companies operating in China to the archipelago, as businesses and governments worldwide look at ways to diversify production in response to supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus.

Indonesia has been considered as the de facto leader of the ASEAN based on historical assumptions; however, the current COVID-19 pandemic has exposed Indonesia’s weakness regarding its role as a regional leader. On the other hand, Vietnam has been making great strides in projecting itself as an effective leader, particularly with its critical and long-standing engagements against and with China and its proactive governance in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the government of Indonesia struggles to contain the public health side of the COVID-19 crisis, the economic hit from the pandemic is starting to bite in earnest. The government now expects GDP growth to slow to between 2.3 and .4 percent for the year – and even this may be optimistic.

Panasonic will close an appliance factory near Bangkok and consolidate production at a larger facility in Vietnam. During the trade dispute between Washington and Beijing, many companies had initially moved production from China to Thailand. Now, however, it seems that they are moving towards more competitive countries, such as Vietnam and Indonesia.

Indonesia and Singapore currently dominate the venture capital (VC) fundraising in Southeast Asia, despite a slower pace of capital raising in the first quarter this year. Indonesia raised US$161 million in the first quarter while Singapore leads with $865 million over the same period, according to a recent report by Deal Street Asia.

In the context of the health crisis and the slowdown in travel, Thai Airways suffered significant losses that left it on the verge of bankruptcy. As reported by the Financial Times, it appears that the government is intent on intervening with a plan to save the company and revitalize it.

Thailand has experienced the strongest economic contraction for over eight years, with GDP down 1.8% in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the previous year. The government will now try to revive domestic consumption, tourism and trade to try to cope with this drop.

Thailand has been an ally of the United States since 1954, but some geopolitical choices and an improvement in relations with Beijing in recent years are putting a strain on this historic alliance. A break is not naturally imminent and the military relationship remains solid, fortified by multiple bilateral exercises every year. According to some, however, several Thai business families would welcome a more evident shift in China's orbit.

Mitsubishi Motors aims to trim its workforce in Thailand as the automaker reduces output in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Mitsubishi Motors informed plant workers of the early retirement offer on May 7, it was revealed Wednesday. The company has offered severance packages equivalent to eight to 35 months of wages, depending on employee age and seniority.

Thailand achieved an important milestone Wednesday, reporting zero new confirmed COVID-19 cases for the first time in over two months. According to the Ministry of Public Health, the last time the kingdom reported no daily increase was on March 9. Until Tuesday, Southeast Asia's second-largest economy had recorded single-digit increases for eight consecutive days.

Thailand’s cabinet approved on Tuesday a plan to spend 400 billion baht ($12.45 billion) to create jobs and strengthen southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, which appears headed for recession because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The flow of tourists to Thailand could collapse by 65% in 2020 due to the pandemic that is forcing governments to limit travel. This year Thailand is likely to record the lowest figure in the last 14 years, at a time when the COVID-19 emergency is truly causing difficulties for the tourism sector all over the world.

The government has decided to triple its debt issuance to Rp 1 quadrillion (US$67.1 billion) this year to finance Indonesia’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a video conference between the Trade Ministers of the two Countries, it was decided that the application of the Indonesia-Australia Global Economic Partnership Agreement will begin on July 5. This global partnership agreement between the two States, ratified by Jakarta in late February, will guarantee facilitations and increase in exports.

Starting as an insignificant spat, the recent online war of words between Chinese and Thai netizens has caught the headlines of international news outlets, including CNN and Foreign Policy magazine. Even though the Beijing embassy in Bangkok referred to this squabbling as “online noise,” the embassy jumped into the viral argument rather than ignoring such unpleasant words.

According to a recent World Bank report, due to the global economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic, several countries in Southeast Asia will witness a collapse of remittances, generally arriving from their emigrant workers to the United States and the Middle East. For many states on the Asian continent, these cash flows represent an important contribution and this collapse is a risk for the economy of the two countries.

After the slowdown in the number of infections in recent days, Thailand is preparing to ease some of the restrictive measures implemented to combat COVID-19. Starting on Sunday 3 May, bars, restaurants and markets will reopen with precise rules to prevent a second wave of infections.