China playing a rising role in ASEAN business
Updated: 2013-10-11 07:47
By Bao Chang (China Daily)
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Being export and investment-oriented, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations economies have benefited from the Chinese market, which has fostered the bloc's rising momentum in both of its economic growth drivers, experts said.
ASEAN member countries, including Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, are considered to be the world's most burgeoning economies at a time of global economic fluctuation. It started a new era of its cooperation with China in 2010, when the China-ASEAN free trade zone was launched.
The free trade association, benefiting a population of 1.9 billion and with a GDP of nearly $6 trillion, also signals China's new steps toward the bilateral coordination mechanism. The two sides plan to increase bilateral trade to $1 trillion by 2020.
Zhang Hemin, a Malaysian- Chinese, came to Nanning, the capital city of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, during China's National Day holiday to sell rubber products.
"Because China's domestic demand is booming, we expect to set a foothold in the huge market and, more importantly, to gain from China's efforts to promote trade with ASEAN trading partners," Zhang said.
From $55 billion in 2002, bilateral trade between China and ASEAN increased to $400 billion in 2012. Over the past decade Sino-ASEAN trade has jumped more than 600 percent.
Malaysia has been China's largest trading partner among ASEAN members since 2009. China has overtaken Singapore to become Malaysia's largest export market.
Rubber is one of the main exports from Malaysia to China. While, Zhang's company is only one of thousands from ASEAN member countries tapping into the Chinese market and exporting various goods ranging from agricultural, electronic to textiles.
China's ongoing structural transformation and upgrading is not only being conducted as a key way to maintain sustainable economic growth but also to act as a big attraction to foreign trading partners.
"Since the global financial crisis, ASEAN economies have suffered a slowdown. But the Chinese market has fueled and helped drive the economic growth of the community," said Mei Xinyu, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
"China has already become a stabilizer of the economic development of ASEAN members," Mei added.
Former ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said China is such a huge market that everyone wants to enter it so ASEAN economies will grow alongside China.
"We should also get involved in China's supply and production lines," he said.
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