Given that Asia has traditionally focused on bank accounts and stocks, make sure that you understand how bonds work first. Simply put, when you buy a bond, you are lending money to the issuer in return for regular interest payments, typically twice a year. You get back the bond's face value when it matures. You may opt not to hold the bond to maturity some will return your capital only after 30 years. The bond issuer's track record is an important factor.
Governments are the safest, with the U.S. on top of the list.
Next are multilateral institutions like the World Bank, followed by blue-chip corporates such as Singapore's DBS Bank. Another issue is foreign-exchange risk. A U.S.-dollar investor would lose if the peso falls sharply against the greenback. It's a good idea to buy a bond in your home currency or in a strong unit like the U.S. dollar and currencies pegged to it, such as the Hong Kong dollar. Kevin Colglazier of CMG First State Investments prefers Asian bonds because of their higher interest rates.