By Recto Mercene & Danielle Gabriel
AMID strained relations with other Asian countries due to territorial issues, China will continue fostering economic integration within the region with initiatives leaning on infrastructure development and bilateral trade and investments.
During the 66th anniversary celebration of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Ambassador Zhao Jianhua said China is working on improving reforms and relations for the common interest of its neighboring countries.
“China will continue to deepen reform and maintain the path of a peaceful development. It is ready to work with other countries to build a type of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core,” Zhao said in his speech.
He also said: “We should, and we can be better friends and better partners. As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations, we need to remember that we have made significant progress in our efforts for common development, which has laid a solid foundation for more comprehensive and fruitful partnership.”
With China being a world economic power, Zhao said plans in developing global trade and regional connectivity through the establishment of the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to connect routes along the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa into one “economic circle,” will bolster the common development of all countries.
The Belt and Road Initiative was first proposed in 2013 as the Silk Road Economic Belt concept by China President Xi Jinping. Earlier this year, an action plan on the principles, framework, and cooperation priorities and mechanism of the project has been released by the China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Commerce.
Aside from the idea of revisiting a unified trade-route system, China has its eyes set on establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to assist in infrastructure construction efforts, as well as get the foreign exchange mill running.
Despite cynics who claim China will enjoy larger voting shares in AIIB because of its role as a major shareholder in the lending agency, 50 countries from different continents have already joined, signing the 35-page Articles of Agreement that determines AIIB’s governance framework, including share of each founding member and initial capitalization.
The Philippines deferred from membership, stating the administration is taking the time to consider joining to make sure the AIIB is inclusive and complements rather than compete.
With China and the Philippines celebrating 40 years of diplomatic relations, Zhao underscored the 17-percent increase in bilateral trade which was at $44.40 billion in 2014.
“China has emerged as one of the biggest markets for the Philippines, accounting for 11.40 percent of the country’s exports, or about $6.46 billion,” Zhao said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) also enjoyed a record-high $480-billion bilateral trade with China, making it the region’s No. 1 trading partner for five years, Zhao said. He added that with developments in the China-Asean free-trade area to be done before the end of the year, bilateral trade is further expected to increase.
Zhao said that in 2014, China invested $5.90 billion in Asean countries, representing an average growth rate of 42 percent since 2003. He said that in 2014, China’s ODI stock in Asean countries reached $32.50 billion, but with the Philippines only having a 1.30-percent share.
A stronger relation through an enhanced investments scene is included in China’s targets. With the Belt and Road Initiative and the establishment of the AIIB, Zhao said China’s investments in the Philippines in the areas of infrastructure development, industrial capacity cooperation are expected to boom.
On tourism, Zhao said China could increase the number of tourists going to the Philippines by 1 million over the next three to five years from the 400,000 arrivals recorded last year.
He said that in 2014, the number of tourists from China to Asean countries reached 11.40 million, making China the leading tourist group within Asean with the biggest chunk going to Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.
“Some experts say each Chinese tourist spends about $1,500 to $3,000 on each trip,” Zhao said.
China recorded 100 million outbound tourists in 2014, and it is estimated that number would grow to 300 million by 2020.
Image credits: Stephanie Tumampos