Deutsche Press Agentur | Jan 18, 2011

Chinese firm launches 1.5-billion-dollar mall in Bangkok

Bangkok — A Chinese state enterprise on Tuesday launched the China City Complex project in Bangkok, a 1.5-billion-dollar mall that will exclusively stock Chinese and South-East Asian products.

The mall, to be built on 2 million square metres of land near Suvarnabhumi International Airport, aims to benefit from a free-trade agreement (FTA) that went into effect between China and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) last year.

’The purpose of the project is to respond to the vigorous growth of the ASEAN-China free trade area,’ said Dong Hongqi, president of the Ashima Yunnan Cultural Industry Group, a Yunnan-based state enterprise that has past experience in trade fairs.

Dong brushed off criticism that the complex was designed to promote cheap Chinese goods on the Thai market to the detriment of local producers.

’The mall will help Thai producers to promote their goods in China and the ASEAN market,’ Dong told a press conference. He said the complex, which aims to attract 70,000 vendors when it opens in late 2012, will offer lower rent rates to Thai shops than those charged to Chinese.

’This will be a good opportunity for Thai companies,’ Thai Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot said.

The China City Complex will limit its stock to goods from China and the 10 member countries of ASEAN, comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

China and ASEAN launched an FTA in January, 2010, slashing tariffs on intra-regional trade to less than 5 per cent on most goods, but excluding a list of sensitive items for each country.

Trade between China and ASEAN reached 200 billion dollars in 2010, compared with 39.5 billion 10 years ago, according to Ning Ningxu, secretary general of the ASEAN-China Commercial Committee.

’I am sure trade between China and ASEAN will reach 500 billion dollars by 2015,’ Ning said.

Economists noted that the majority of China-ASEAN trade to date is destined for re-export to Asia’s traditional markets, the US and Europe.