Nanning -- As the third China-ASEAN Expo is drawing near, a Burmese furnisher
is busy transporting his rosewood furniture to Nanning, capital of south China's
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
"I hope it sells well and this trip as fruitful as before," said 42-year-old
Min Thein in fluent Chinese. He had raked in over 500,000 yuan (US$62,500) in
the previous two sessions of the Expo.
Min Thein's experience mirrors the expanding trade between China
and ASEAN countries over the past decade as China's economy booms. Trade
experts estimate that China-ASEAN trade may well reach the US$200 billion target by 2008,
two years ahead of the scheduled time.
"Development of China-ASEAN bilateral trade is so fast that it already
outpaced the growth of foreign trade in China," said Gao Hucheng, Vice Minister
of the State Ministry of Commerce.
Chinese statistics show that from 1990 to 2005, China-ASEAN trade volume
surged at an average of 22 percent on year-on-year basis, four percentage points
higher than the growth rate of China 's overall foreign trade volume in the
corresponding period.
China-ASEAN trade volume in last year hit US$130.3 billion, up 23 percent
from 2004 and roughly 16 times of the figure in 1991. In the first three
quarters this year, two-way trade between China and ASEAN countries topped
US$116.3 billion.
Currently, China and ASEAN are each other's fourth largest trading partner.
Analysts attributed the trade surge to a number of factors.
Chai Yu, director of the economics office of the Asia-Pacific Institute under
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that one leading reason is the
warming-up political relationship between China and ASEAN members.
China and ASEAN are bent on cementing the "strategic partnership orientated
to peace and prosperity", which could lay a solid foundation for deepening of
trade cooperation between the two sides, he said.
"The traded products between China and ASEAN are changing from raw products
to finished industrial products, especially mechanical, electrical or high-tech
products", said the professor.
By 2005, mechanical, electrical or high-tech products have racked up 60
percent and 45 percent of the total China-ASEAN trade volume of the two sides
respectively.
In addition, the professor the speed-up of the China-ASEAN free trade area
has also contributed to the fast growth.
China and six old ASEAN member countries -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- will impose zero tariffs on most normal
products by 2010, while China and the other four new ASEAN members -- Cambodia
Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- will do the same in 2015.
The China-ASEAN free trade area will have a total population of 1.8 billion
and a combined gross national product of US$2 trillion upon its completion in
2010. It is expected to be the third largest market in the world, after the
European Union and the North American free trade area.
