ALL ROADS LEAD TO CHINA

       China is one of the most interesting markets to look into and Thai entrepreneurs have shown a great deal of interest in learning more about it, a leading banker said at a recent seminar held in Bangkok recently.
       "Everybody wants to connect to China these days as no country has been able to progress as fast and well-planned as China has," said Chartsiri Sophonpanich,the president of Bangkok Bank Plc.
       China, now dubbed the world's growth engine, is growing at 8%, the rate expected for this year.
       The country, which in the past decade has become the global manufacturing hub, grew by 8.9% year-on-year in the third quarter thanks to the massive spending undertaken by the government to avert a global meltdown. China has used a $585-billion stimulus plan and $1.27 trillion in bank lending this year to drive the nation's recovery, which has helped pull other regional economies out of the slump as well.
       The spending spree by the Chinese has helped show a modest improvement in exports and retail sales, but public spending has contributed the most to the country's growth,at 88% of GDP in the first half.
       This is one of the reasons why Chartsiri: World the global focus is growth engine shifting toward China, added Kosit Panpiemras, the executive chairman of BBL.
       "China has a lot of potential and Asean members can benefit from this," Mr Kosit,a former industry minister,said during the seminar.
       He said that despite the 11.9% decline in global trade,China is the best chance for entrepreneurs during the hard times.
       "The data released show that domestic consumption continued to grow in China," Mr Kosit said.
       China late last month announced September economic data, with exports rising 11.8% month-on-month to $115.9 billion but falling 15.2% year-on-year.
       The data released by China's General Administration of Customs showed that imports increased 17% from August to $103 billion in September but were down 3.5% year-on-year.
       Foreign trade in the first nine months this year reached $1.56 trillion, down 20.9% from the same period last year.The country's exports in the first three quarters reached $846.7 billion, down 21.3% from the same period last year,while imports fell 20.4% year-on-year to 711.2 billion, resulting a 26% decline in trade surplus to $135.5 billion.
       Mr Kosit said that the growing importance of China globally and regionally would mean that various alliances would start to tilt in China's favour.
       "The world is changing fast and China is one market that is growing despite all other markets taking a major hit," he said.
       "This means that we would build our relations with China the same way we built our relations with Japan," he said,pointing to the fact that Japanese inves-tors are now the largest investor group in Thailand.
       Citing the progress made by the Chinese government which was evident from the recent 60th anniversary celebration of modern China, Mr Kosit said that if China could do so much in 60 years, what it would do in the next 60 years would be interesting.
       Guan Mu, the Chinese ambassador to Thailand, said that the economic growth made China one of the most attractive destinations for investment and the planned opening of the various free-trade agreements with trading blocs such as Asean would make investing in China more alluring.
       The Asean-China FTA is set to be implemented on Jan 1 next year and Mr Mu says that the opportunities after that would be tremendous for trade and investment-related issues.
       Future plans for Thailand and Asean as a whole is to have greater rail, air and land links with China thus providing greater access.
       The value of trade between Asean
       and China is set to rise to $50 billion by 2010 while investments could surge to $1.5 billion,with more than 4 million tourists visiting the two regions.Kosit: The next Mr Mu also Japan for Thailand echoed similar views of other panelists, saying that the economic prowess o f China today will sooner or later be a force to reckon with.
       "Today China's economy is the world's third largest and analysts expect it to soon get to becoming the world's second largest," he said, adding that its foreign exchange reserve of $2.27 trillion is now the world's largest and continues to grow.
       Mr Mu added that the past few decades has seen a sharp increase in the standard of living of the people in the country and this is partly from the increased investments from both the private and public sectors.
       He said that megastructures that once took months or years to build are now popping up in every corner of the country.
       For those who are looking to enter China, Mr Mu said that the basic requirement is to study the people and culture. This is a necessary step for all investors who plan to undertake investments or trade with China.
       "It is not just the economic benefit that needs to be studied, you have to know the people and culture as well,"he said to an audience of more than 200 attending the seminar.
       He said that the Chinese government was promoting various projects in various areas in order to uplift the standard of living of the masses which may help lower the gap between the urban and the rural people.
       The other step that the government is undertaking is to shore up domestic consumption as a way to offset the reliance on the export sector.