The states of ASEAN have adopted three distinct attitudes to foreign investment, each at a different level. At the international level, because of their membership of Third World groupings, they have associated themselves somewhat reluctantly, with the package of norms on foreign investment contained in the claims to a New International Economic Order. At the bilateral level, they have deviated from these norms and accepted the more traditional norms of foreign of foreign investment protection advocated by the capital-exporting States. However, there are indications in the bilateral investment treaties that such protection will not be given to all foreign investment. In their domestic laws on foreign investment, the ASEAN states, which generally believe in a strategy of foreign investment led development, have adopted a pragmatic approach. While devising mechanisms for controlling such investments to ensure that they contribute to national economic goals, they also seek to attract foreign capital by maintaining certain traditional norms of foreign investment protection. this article is a study of these trends. The general conclusion is that the ASEAN states would adhere to the pragmatic approach of maintaining national control while adhering to internationally accepted standards of investment protection.