China, Engine for Regional Economic Growth: Ramos

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, May 10, 2002

China, Engine for Regional Economic Growth: Ramos

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Former President of the Philippines Fidel V. Ramos dubbed China an emerging engine of economic growth for southeast Asia at the 35th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Board of Governors Thursday.

According to Ramos, trade between China and then six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) multiplied from 8.8 billion U.S. dollars in 1993 to more than 32 billion in mid- 2001. China's accession to the WTO should in time make it a large and new export market for ASEAN.

Ramos voiced his admiration that no country expanded its foreign trade as fast as China had in the past 20 years. Between 1980 and 2000, while Japan doubled its foreign trade, China's foreign trade multiplied five times. Currently, China is already the world's 7th largest trading economy.

He said ASEAN plus China will become the world's largest free- trade area. It will bring together a potential market of some 1.7 billion people, with a combined Gross National Product (GNP) of 1. 7 trillion U.S. dollars and total external trade valued at 1.3 trillion US dollars.

"ASEAN plus China also offers the possibility of increased investment from China's multinationals. Given ASEAN's strong connections with overseas Chinese networks already spread worldwide, we may expect southeast Asia to be a prime destination of growing Chinese foreign investment," he said.

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