Its level of development lags behind Taiwan's, "says Li Kao-chao. He states that the relationship between Taiwan and Southeast Asia is characterized by a mutually complementary vertical division of labor--Taiwan produces intermediate materials and key components while Southeast Asia relies on its cheaper land and labor to do assembly and export processing. Therefore the relationship between the two is more cooperative than competitive.
「東南亞以勞力密集產業為主，產業發展階段和台灣有一段距離」，李高朝指出，台灣和東南亞是屬於垂直分工的互補形態﹘﹘台灣生產中間財和關鍵零組件，東南亞則憑著廉價的土地及勞工，做組裝及加工出口，因此雙方的關係是「合作大於競爭」。