Instead, Manila was increasingly well integrated with Northeast Asia. In part, this orientation reflects Manilas position at the margin of Southeast Asia, but the high volume of traffic on routes to Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (including secondary destinations in these countries) also testifies to the increasing importance of trade and investment from Northeast Asia in the Philippine economy. It should be noted that Manila and Bangkok lie at peripheral locations within this papers definition of Southeast Asia. Conversely, Singapore lies at its center, and that physical centrality may exaggerate its functional centrality.