China sees \"RMB zone\" taking shape on Myanmar border<\/p>\n
By Andrew Quinn<\/p>\n
JIEGAO, China (Reuter): China's \"people's currency\", the
\nRenminbi (RMB), may take second place to the dollar, yen and
\nDeutschmark on world financial markets, but in Myanmar it
\nsparkles diamond-hard.<\/p>\n
Traders along the rugged border are swapping RMB faster than
\never before thanks to China's rising economic power -- a lift-off
\nwhich could finally prise open the lid on one of Asia's last
\nhermit economies.<\/p>\n
\"We are a perfect match,\" said Fan Xilang, a senior trade
\nofficial in Yunnan, the southwestern Chinese province which
\nshares a lengthy border with Myanmar.<\/p>\n
\"We make what they need. The quality of our products is
\nmatched to their capacity to buy.\"<\/p>\n
In its flourishing trade with Myanmar and the other border
\nstates of Vietnam and Laos, China is easing into a new role as
\nbig brother, role model and regional economic powerhouse.<\/p>\n
While China's coastal hotspots vie for investment, technology
\nand expertise from Japan, South Korea and the United States,
\nunderdeveloped Yunnan is re-casting itself as the new hope for
\npoorer countries to the south.<\/p>\n
The RMB, bound by conversion limits and dogged by inflation,
\nhas become the hallmark of this about-face.<\/p>\n
Used almost universally by local traders, it flows widely
\nthroughout northern Myanmar and is seen as a far more dependable
\nhedge than the beleaguered Myanmarese kyat.<\/p>\n
\"Once a Myanmarese makes money, they turn it into RMB and
\ndeposit it in our banks. They trust it,\" said Huang Yi, vice
\ngovernor of Dehong prefecture which covers the border area.<\/p>\n
The \"RMB Zone\" extends far into Laos and to Vietnam, where
\nChinese newspapers estimate that some 1.5 billion yuan (US$172
\nmillion) is in circulation.<\/p>\n
Chinese officials proudly recount how one can use RMB to buy
\nsouvenirs at the Ho Chi Minh Museum in Hanoi.<\/p>\n
\"We are looking for mutual cooperation, but on the whole China
\ngives more than it gets,\" said Wang Dazhang, manager and
\nCommunist Party chief of the Jiegao Economic Area in the Yunnan
\nborder city of Ruili, seen by planners as the focus of future
\ncross-border trade.<\/p>\n
Entrepot<\/p>\n
Jiegao, a spit of Chinese land jutting into Myanmar, is
\ndeveloping into an entrepot.<\/p>\n
In dusty lots Myanmarese and Chinese trucks swap goods before
\nheading home -- Myanmarese timber, aquatic products and grain in
\nexchange for Chinese household appliances, clothing, tools and
\nmachine parts.<\/p>\n
Outside, tourists and traders stroll in a small market under
\nblazing sunshine. The border is marked by occasional pylons and a
\ngarbage-filled ditch.<\/p>\n
Jiegao's unfinished look belies the fast growth of trade
\nbetween Yunnan and Myanmar. Officials say the province saw 2.5
\nbillion yuan ($288 million) in trade in 1993, a rise of about 26
\npercent over the previous year.<\/p>\n
Chinese officials proudly tick off their contributions to
\nMyanmar, one of the world's poorest countries after decades of
\nisolation under its military rulers' policy of seeking a
\n\"Myanmarese road to socialism.\"<\/p>\n
Political ties have grown closer as Beijing and Yangoon face
\ndown similar Western pressures over such issues as human rights.<\/p>\n
Now, the economies are beginning to mesh.<\/p>\n
Chinese engineers re-work dilapidated railways. Others are
\nbuilding roads, bridges and hotels. Chinese tourism, much of it
\nbusiness in disguise, floods across the border for the wilder
\npossibilities of Myanmarese nightlife.<\/p>\n
When a fire breaks out in Mujie, the Myanmarese town
\nneighboring Jiegao, the Chinese fire truck often makes it there
\nfirst. \"We are faster,\" Wang said simply.<\/p>\n
So fast, in fact, fears are already sharp that Myanmar and her
\nneighbors are in danger of being swamped by China's push to
\nexpand its economic horizons.<\/p>\n
As fast-trading Chinese businessmen move further and further
\nsouth, opening shops and buying up property, some economic
\nanalysts say national economies are tilting toward Beijing
\ninstead of toward their own capitals.<\/p>\n
With fast-growing Thailand exerting a similar pressure from
\nthe south, the fear is of being caught in a pincer, stripped of
\nvaluable timber and other resources before the vulnerable area
\nhas time to set its own priorities.<\/p>\n
For Yunnan officials, such talk misses the point. The point,
\nas they see it, is that the Chinese economic boom is shaking up
\nits neighbors enough to provide riches for all.<\/p>\n
\"Shenzhen (in south China) sits across the border from Hong
\nKong, a rich capitalist city. Across our border we face a poor
\nfriend,\" said Wang. \"They need us.\"<\/p>\n
-30-<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/china-sees-rmb-zone-taking-shape-on-myanmar-border-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }