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Roundup: "Double Win for Chinese, Thai Economies"
In decades before the breakout of 1997 Asian financial crisis, Chinese brand-names were hardly seen or known in Thailand. However, with the quick emergence of China's economic power, Chinese products and investors are increasing their presence and influence in the Southeast Asian neighbor.
Chinese products rock local marketThirty years ago, Japanese brands began to shed their low-quality images and push their western counterparts into retreat across many lines of manufactured products in the kingdom. However, now Chinese home appliance products are competing Japanese peers on nearly every local store-shelve, with an edge on price.
Good-priced and sound-quality Chinese goods such as mini-home theater sets, video recorders, VCDs, DVDs, Karaoke equipment, CD players, radios and flashlights are very popular among lower- and middle-income Thai buyers, according to a report from the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).
"The quality of Chinese goods perhaps might not beat Japanese brands right now, but technological improvements and cost efficiencies will increase the presence of Chinese household goods in Thailand over the next few years," FTI chairman Udom Chatiyanont told reporters in a recent occasion.
Grow Rich Enterprise, a leading importer of electrical appliance from China, said it sold between 2,000 and 3,000 Chinese video recorders a month, at similar prices to Thai products but better quality.
Vasana Aswakulton, owner of a medium-sized electrical shop in downtown Bangkok told Xinhua that Chinese brands from low to high prices had quickly gained acceptance among Thais.
FTI predicted that with China's imminent entry of the World Trade Organization, the electronic parts sector will be the next area for Chinese access in Thai market.
The Chinese presence is also felt in the infrastructure sector. Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecom network provider, is seeking a local partner to form a joint venture, in the hope to become one of the country's top-three in the sector by 2003. The potential candidates included Telephone Organization of Thailand and the Communication Authority of Thailand.
"Since entering the Thai market a year ago, we are trying to communicate with Thai people and help them to develop a better perception that the quality of Chinese products can compete with those from Western companies," Xu Zhijun, vice president of Huawei, told local media recently.
The company expected to gain five million U.S. dollars in total sales this year and the figure would double annually until 2003.
Chinese investment upswings On October 8, the same day the U.S. began its military strikes against Afghanistan, a major Chinese investment project broke earth in a 25-hectare clearing along the eastern seaboard of Thailand, 145 kilometers southeast of Bangkok.
The planned China Industrial City, invested solely by the Shanghai-based Worldbest Group, a government-owned conglomerate, is the biggest-ever Chinese investment in the country, at 117 million U.S. dollars, equal to total Chinese investment in Thailand during 1995 to 2000.
Despite the threat of war in Central Asia and a worldwide recession, Worldbest chairman Zhou Yucheng told Xinhua that his group was very optimistic to make Thailand its textile export base.
"Given the highly skilled quality labor combined with political stability and lower labor costs, Thailand represents a good potential site for Chinese investment," he claimed.
The project, including four plants, is expected to start producing and exporting textile products later next year.
Zhou said the textile industry was one of the sectors which China has an edge in technology, management skills and machinery, and was qualified to be transferred into other countries.
The project only signalled a beginning of massive ingress of Chinese investment. For years, the Chinese and Thai governments have been negotiating on a large-scale paper production project in which China will invest some 700 million dollars and Thailand will provide land and the raw material.
After Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's recent visit to Thailand in May, the discussions on the project was reportedly making headway.
Till 2000, Thailand has invested nearly five billion dollars in China while China's total investment in Thailand was only 100 million dollars. However, Since the start of Asian crisis which severely hurt Thai firms, Chinese business groups have become more active in investing in Thailand.
"With the fast expanding of the Chinese economy and domestic saturation for some products, many Chinese firms are encouraged to invest overseas, including Thailand," Pan Rongqian, Economic Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy said.
He predicted that China's WTO entry would provide more opportunities for mutual trade and mutual investment between the two countries. "That will be a double win for both."
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