Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, June 10, 2002
China's Booming Economy Benefits East Asian Countries: Lee Kuan Yew
China's booming economy has benefited East Asian countries, making the trade and production cooperation among these countries to tie up with every passing day, said Lee Kuan Yew, senior minister in the Prime Minister's Office of Singapore on Sunday in a written speech at the "Munich Economic Summit".
China's booming economy has benefited East Asian countries, making the trade and production cooperation among these countries to tie up with every passing day, said Lee Kuan Yew, senior minister in the Prime Minister's Office of Singapore on Sunday in a written speech at the "Munich Economic Summit".
After China's WTO entry, many foreign enterprises swarmed into China for establishing branches, giving China a faster economic growth speed than other East Asian countries. The economic increase in Northeast Asia will be closely linked up because more and more enterprises of these economies will shift their businesses to China. And in the coming 30-50 years, Southeast Asia, China, ROK, and Japan will form a chain of production group, Lee said in his written speech.
According to Lee, although China has drawn in more investment than Southeast Asia, China's booming economy will benefit all countries in the region because China cannot manufacture all goods but have to import materials, semi-manufactured goods, and industrial equipments as well. In fact, China has already been doing like this.
For example, during 1990 to 2001, the total export value to China of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Philippines increased by six times while the total export value to Japan, Europe, and the US of the five ASEAN countries increased only by 2.5 times.
In addition, China's economic growth also benefits the service industry of Southeast Asia due to China's growing demands for high-quality education, healthcare, recreational services and consumables, Lee added.