In its fascination with all things China, much of the world seems to have overlooked one of the great trading opportunities of the post-crisis global economy: the potential of Southeast Asia.
It is a strange omission. The 10 Asean members comprise a market of 601 million people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$2.1 trillion, solid growth, low manufacturing costs and a rising middle class hungry for the consumer experience.
We expect these trends will be amplified when the Asean Economic Community (AEC) comes into existence at the end of 2015. The AEC is designed to eliminate tariffs and other trade barriers between Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, effectively creating what could be one of the world's biggest single markets.
Part of Southeast Asia's attraction is the range of opportunities it offers, as both a manufacturing base and a market. Asean spans the spectrum from Singapore, a financial and high-tech industrial hub with a higher GDP per capita than Switzerland, through the established offshore manufacturing centres of Thailand and Malaysia, via the newly industrialised economies of Vietnam and Cambodia, to the natural resources of Indonesia and the raw potential of Myanmar.
But the heart of Southeast Asia's potential lies in the middle class, as both consumers and a source of highly educated, highly productive labour.
A recent report from Ernst & Young estimates there were 529 million middle-class Asians in 2009 _ 28% of the global total _ growing to 3.2 billion by 2030 or 66% of the global total. Much of that growth will be in China and India, but Southeast Asia will also play a key role.
Southeast Asia has not been immune to the global headwinds _ we forecast regional GDP growth of only 3.9% this year _ but that growth is robust, driven largely by domestic consumption and growing intra-regional trade.
Intra-regional trade grew from 19% of total trade in 1993 to 25% in 2011, but its potential is vastly greater. Growth has been blunted by poor connectivity _ for years there has been no rail link between Vietnam on the eastern seaboard and Thailand on the Andaman Sea, for example, and until recently goods travelling by road had to change trucks three times to comply with local regulations.
But Southeast Asia has used the global economic crisis to embark upon a major infrastructure upgrade, building roads, ports and railways while dismantling the bureaucratic barriers to trade to allow the region to reap the full economic benefits of its diversity.
It is also working to improve the efficiency of its capital markets, which will play a major role to play in financing growth. Although there is some way to go, today there is greater regional cooperation than ever, and foreign investors are looking closely at the possibility of public-private partnerships as a way to buy into the region's growth.
In many instances Western companies identified China as a preferred option when setting up manufacturing facilities, encouraged by competitive wages, well-developed infrastructure for foreign direct investment (FDI) and the bonus of the potential domestic market.
But this is beginning to change as Southeast Asian markets become more accessible and increasingly competitive on costs. FDI into Asean grew by 24 per cent last year to $114 billion.
The dismantling of the economic, physical and regulatory barriers between Southeast Asian nations envisaged by the AEC will help to unleash the full potential of what is already one of the world's most dynamic regions.
As the world's economic centre of gravity moves inexorably eastwards, Southeast Asia is sitting in the cockpit of growth _ the diversity which critics had assumed was one of its weaknesses will become a strength, and a growing middle class will drive both consumption and innovation.
Noel Quinn is HSBC's Asia-Pacific head of commercial banking.