TradePromotion

Chinese and ASEAN enterprises full of confidence in their cooperation

2021-9-28 11:13:19

According to a report released on September 11 by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), an international accounting firm at the 18th China-ASEAN Expo, Chinese and ASEAN enterprises are optimistic about the future economic and trade cooperation, having high confidence and expectations for benefiting from such cooperation.

The report shows that more than 50% of the Chinese enterprises surveyed see the trade expansion in ASEAN as an important business strategy and 47% of the ASEAN enterprises surveyed have put in place the business plans targeted at the Chinese market. At the same time, more than 65% of the surveyed enterprises in China and ASEAN believe that the signing and implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will bring new opportunities.

Huang Yaohe, China Lead Partner of PwC's Global Cross-border Services, said that the China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation plays a pivotal role in the global economy. In recent years, the manufacturing industries in China and ASEAN have been further interconnected, which demonstrates that China and ASEAN will jointly develop into the global manufacturing bases. ASEAN enterprises have high expectations for the huge demand released by the Chinese market and look forward to engaging in this market. It is estimated that China and ASEAN will continue to deepen the cooperation in multiple fields. The digitalization-oriented reform of enterprises will help promote regional stability and development, and facilitate broader economic and trade exchanges around the world.

The report shows that ASEAN has become an increasingly important market of international business for Chinese enterprises. Chinese enterprises' investment in ASEAN is still at a stage of development, mainly focusing on the trade with such ASEAN countries as Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Most Chinese enterprises invest in their main business or upstream and downstream business. ASEAN enterprises welcome the investment from China, with Thailand ranking first in attracting the Chinese investment, followed by Singapore. Most of those investments go into manufacturing, real estate, mining and energy industries. Capital, market and technology are most expected by ASEAN enterprises from China.

According to the report, China is an important part of ASEAN enterprises' long-term business strategy. Most of ASEAN enterprises that have invested in China are those manufacturing ones in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. The Yangtze River Delta Economic Belt and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are the most closely watched regions in China by ASEAN countries. At the same time, the Chengdu-Chongqing region and the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor in Western China are attracting more attention. The surveyed ASEAN enterprises also pay great attention to the regulation transparency, market openness, and competition fairness in addition to preferential tax policies favorable to foreign enterprises.

Both Chinese and ASEAN enterprises believe that RCEP will bring new opportunities to China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation, facilitate the overseas business expansion by relevant stakeholders, and create favorable conditions for enterprises to develop trade business and accelerate industrial upgrading. However, some manufacturing enterprises in ASEAN are concerned about the impact from overseas manufacturers with an edge in capital and technology.

Zhang Pingping, Business Director of Corporate Finance team and M&A Department within the PwC China Deals Practice, said that as the world still faces severe global pandemic and complex international political and economic environment, it is still at the core of the future China-ASEAN economic and trade cooperation to enhance the enterprises' international competitiveness through deepened mutual trust and continued opening up.

(Source: CCPIT/ chinatradenews.com.cn)