China-ASEAN trade up 41%<\/p>\n
BEIJING (UPI): China's trade with Association of Southeast
\nAsian Nations jumped 41 percent to reach a record US$19.48
\nbillion in 1995, boosted by exports of steel and finished
\nproducts, an official newspaper said yesterday.<\/p>\n
For the first time China saw the balance of its exports to
\nASEAN countries shift from textiles, light industrial products,
\ncereals and edible oils to steel, machinery and electronic
\nproducts, Xie Ruixia, an official with the Ministry of Foreign
\nTrade and Economic Cooperation, told the China Daily.<\/p>\n
China's primary imports were crude oil, grain, sugar and
\nplywood, Xie said.<\/p>\n
Southeast Asian nations for the first time last year became
\nthe No. 1 destination for Chinese labor and project engineering,
\nsupplanting the Middle East.<\/p>\n
ASEAN countries led by Singapore pumped $1.7 billion into
\nChina in the first nine months of 1995, a figure analysts expect
\nwill grow as more Southeast Asian companies relocate labor-
\nintensive industries to either China or Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Xie attributed the trade boon to "political stability and a
\nbetter investment environment" and pledged China would adhere to
\nthe "Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence," outlining China's
\nstance on state-to-state relations with its neighbors in the
\nregion.<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
\nSingapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Tensions between China and ASEAN have eased since last year
\nwhen the Philippines accused China of building naval support
\ninstallations on Mishief Reef, part of the potentially oil-rich
\nchain of atolls that make up the Spratly Islands in the South
\nChina Sea.<\/p>\n
With investors looking to other emerging low-cost markets
\nincluding China, leaders from ASEAN countries meeting in December
\nvowed to speed up regional economic integration by liberalizing
\ninvestment laws, hastening deregulation of their economies and
\nspeeding up improvements to overstretched power supplies,
\ntransportation and communications.<\/p>\n
The process is expected to accelerate as the group heads
\ntoward a Southeast Asian free-trade zone of more than 450 million
\npeople.<\/p>",
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