Silk Road way to solve PH, Sino feud

39 projects

In Xiamen, local officials have mapped out 39 projecs for the participation of nine countries—the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Iran and Sri Lanka.

Of the 39 projects, nine were earmarked for the Philippines and these were made up mostly of infrastructure construction “to promote development and connectivity between the two nations,” according to Chen Jianjin, vice senior officer of the Xiamen Commerce Bureau.

In a briefing, Chen said among the projects was the construction of the Southeast China shipping center where a container port would also rise.

“We are also building the cruise home port. We are going to attract internationally famous ships to Xiamen to promote tourism,” Chen said.

Xiamen was also boosting mutual investment with the Philippines and Chen said Chinese-Filipino business tycoon Henry Sy’s SM Group would build the third phase of its shopping mall there.

“Our Xiamen bus company is also promoting an assembly plant in the Philippines,” he said.

In boosting tourism ties under the Silk Road initiative, Chen said Xiamen was working on a “popular cruise route” that would see the inclusion of some countries, including the Philippines.

“In the future, we plan to give greater support in importing goods from the Philippines and other Asean countries, and to get more subsidy for these programs,” he said.

More PH investment

Chen also expressed hope that Philippine enterprises will invest more in Xiamen, noting that many Chinese-Filipinos come from Xiamen.

Aside from Sy’s SM Group, John Gokongwei’s Robinson’s Group has also a shopping mall in Xiamen.

There are 199 Philippine enterprises in Xiamen, mostly medium and small-sized businesses, with a total capital of $280 million, Chen said.

The Philippines is Xiamen’s 10th largest investor, concentrating on manufacturing and services. Manila is the second largest trader among Asean members in Xiamen, Chen said.

He said, however, that Xiamen’s investment in the Philippines is smaller, with only four enterprises with $3.16 million in investments, mostly in mining.

In the case of the export-oriented economy of Quanzhou, the Philippines is its third largest source of foreign direct investments, with Hong Kong and Taiwan on the first and second spots, respectively, according to Chen Jin Zhen, section chief of the Quanzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce.

The export volume between the Philippines and Xiamen is $1 billion, while their import volume is $60 million, she said.

PAL flights

“We can do more business together. It’s beneficial not only to Chinese businessmen but also to Filipino businessmen,” she said.

The opportunity to do more business and people-to people exchanges as well as tourism between Quanzhou and the Philippines is expected to increase with Philippine Airlines opening direct flights between Manila and Jinjiang, a Quanzhou county, according to Helen Chen, associate consultant of the Quanzhou Municipal Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.

Chen also said Quanzhou had drawn similar action plans involving 180 projects under the Silk Road initiative where the Philippines would benefit.

She said the action plans were being reviewed at the provincial level and would be brought eventually for the approval at the national level.

“The Philippines is one of the most important countries in Asia and we’re sure there will be some projects related to the Philippines in Quanzhou. The Philippines is an investor, so we have projects,” she said.

Under the Silk Road initiative, she said, local governments in China will encourage businessmen “to go abroad and set up industrial parks” and in the case of Quanzhou, shoe companies as they have a bigger international market.

Long-standing cooperation

Chen of the Quanzhou commerce bureau said long before the Silk Road initiative, Quanzhou and the Philippines were already doing well in economic and trade cooperation.

That is why when Beijing introduced the modern Silk Road initiative, Chen said, Quanzhou “seized” the opportunity for it to become the “pioneer” of the project.

The SM Group made its first investment in China in 2001, opening a large shopping mall.

It is opening soon a third shopping mall in Xiamen, SM Xiamen III, which will be “more upscale” than SM Xiamen II or the Lifestyle Center, according to Ronald Allan Brosas, SM Supermalls assistant vice president who is based in China.

Brosas said SM Group hoped to open soon a third shopping mall that was linked with SM City Xiamen and SM Lifestyle Center.

“We need to be aggressive of the competition,” he said, noting that the business competition has become stiffer because Xiamen is “close to Hong Kong.”

Brosas said the recent opening of a subway is Xiamen allowed residents to visit Hong Kong in four hours, prompting the SM Group to strive to get more international brands to its shopping malls.

“We want to compete. We want to build a city within a city,” Brosas said, adding that the group was working with the city.

Five SM malls

SM Xiamen is among five SM shopping malls operating in China. The others are located in Jinjiang, Quanzhou; Chenghua, Chengdu; Wuzhong, Suzhou and Yubei, Chongqing. It is set to open more SM malls, among them in Zichuan, Zibo City and in Tianjin.

And SM has big investment plans for China, with officials saying they will enter in more real estate business there, building residences, condominiums and offices.

“SM’s future plan in China is focused on the core targets of provincial capitals and cities as well as the second-tier cities to develop SM shopping centers while actively expanding the brand name of SM and increasing the recognition of SM nationwide,” the group says in its “Live with Style” brochure.

Chen of the Xiamen commerce bureau said he hoped that under the Silk Road initiative, “more Philippine enterprises would invest in Xiamen.”

“Xiamen is coastal and the Philippines is an [archipelago]. So we have a lot of cooperation potential,” Chen said.

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