China to Become Asia Pacific Regions' Manufacturing CenterChina is to become Asia Pacific region's manufacturing center. This is a common view held by international enterprise circles according to the news from the just-concluded Tianjin Mayor International Consultant Forum.Present at the meeting were giants of nearly 30 transnational corporations and celebrities from world political and economic circles. They are very optimistic about China's economy after China's WTO entry and some enterprises are expecting more out of the Chinese market. "I have never suspected that China will one day become the world economy's "bell-wether", said Haig, president of the Global United. China has strong productive capacity and its obvious predominance is going to make it the manufacturing center in the Asia Pacific region". According to statistics from World Investment Report for 2001. So far, some 400 companies on the list of Forbes as the world top 500 have invested some 2000 projects in China and world major computer, electronic products, telecom equipment, petrochemical and other manufacturers have extended their network into China. "The age of China has already come into our midst", becoming the world manufacturing center for electronics products, computer hardware and telecom. Up to now China is the world's largest digital switch market, and Asia's second PC market. In the meanwhile, China has already jumped to the 2nd place in the world in agricultural bio-tech industry and it is to become world's second large country in space technology, and by establishing joint cooperation with the world partners, China will also become a path-breaker in chemical field. Statistics show that over the last 20 years since reform, China has kept an annual growth rate of 8 percent in its economy. For 8 years in a row it has been a developing country that attracts the most foreign direct investment in the world with more than 40 billion US dollars of international capital flowing into China annually. It is the huge investment injection that makes China a "Factory in Asia". The latest trend shows that more and more transnational corporations will take China as their market for sales, for raw material purchases, price setting, and even bases for new products and human resources development. China will thus provide a base for coordinating and harmonizing management and comprehensive services for their subsidiary companies in the Asia Pacific region. According to an interview Roland Berger Strategy Consultants recently released based on an interview with some auto experts in South America, America and China's 10 auto manufacturers and 90 auto parts suppliers, the fastest growth market for auto needs will be China in the coming 10 years. China will become the largest auto parts and accessories producing market. In the new tide of economic globalization, the world manufacturing industry is tending to China as Economists analyzed. China has peculiar advantages in market, safety and stability, talents, infrastructure for absorbing large amount of foreign investment. What is more, the labor-intensive industries have also been developed to some extent and by combining domestic and foreign investment, a new manufacturing center in the Asia Pacific region is rising. By PD Online Staff Li Yan |
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