Cross-border barter trade was the most common method of foreign
trade when China and Southeast Asian countries began economic
exchanges more than ten years ago, however, against the backdrop of
the free trade area construction process, people on both sides are
witnessing a boom in mutual investment and large-scale cargo and
service trade.
Chinese figures showed that the China-ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) trade volume hit US$54.77 billion in 2002,
up 31.7 percent year-on-year. Last year, 8.8 percent of China's
total foreign trade was with ASEAN, while in 1991, the ratio was
only 5.8 percent.
ASEAN is now China's fifth largest trading partner and China is
ASEAN's sixth. Apart from trade, mutual investment and economic and
technological cooperation in agriculture, tourism and the
processing industry have also benefited.
According to the Chinese
Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, ASEAN
countries had 19,281 investment projects in China by September last
year, involving US$28.68 billion, and China had invested US$690
million in 769 projects in ASEAN countries.
These days, there are fewer people engaging in border area barter
trade and more businessmen coming to China for much higher-level
economic cooperation, marking a milestone for China-ASEAN economic
exchanges and the beginning of a competitive win-win era, said Gu
Xiaosong, an expert with the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences in
south China's
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
At
a high-level forum on the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) hosted
in Guilin, Vice-Chairman Gao Hucheng of the Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region, said the FTA build-up will facilitate the
liberalization of cargo and service trade and also facilitate the
liberalization of reciprocal investment, with a focus on
cooperation in farming, information technology, human resources and
exploration of the Mekong River valley.
The building of the FTA has brought comprehensive benefits to many
parties, said Huang Zheng, vice-president of the Guangxi Academy of
Social Sciences.
A
food company in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province in east China, with
investment from the Philippines, is consuming 6,000 tons of local
soybeans and 1,600 tons of rice a year, and a Guangxi company
working together with a Thai company are building a model
eco-village. Liu Yonghao, one of China's wealthiest businessmen,
has invested in several farm projects in Vietnam, the Philippines
and Thailand.
China has succeeded in spreading its rice paddy technology to
Southeast Asian countries. China and ASEAN countries also enjoy
huge potential for tourism cooperation. In 2002, about 10 million
Chinese spent their holidays in the other parts of Asia.
(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2003)