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The emergence of China as a major trading power has had a significant impact on the pattern and growth of trade in developing Asia, and benefited other economies in the region, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report released in Manila Monday.
The report, Asian Development Outlook 2003, noted that the total merchandise trade of developing Asia with the rest of the world increased rapidly from January to September 2002, citing trade data that indicate the region was an aggregate net exporter of goods, with exports rising 31.3 percent to US$66.4 billion in September from US$50.6 billion in January.
Developing Asia's imports from the rest of the world also increased by a moderate 3 percent from US$46 billion in September 2001, said the Manila-based bank's annual report, which analyzes and forecasts economic trends in the Asia and Pacific region.
Trade between China's mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the rest of the world more than tripled between 1990 and 2001, while trade between Southeast Asia and the rest of the world roughly doubled over the same period, as did trade between South Korea and Mongolia and the rest of the world, it said.
China's mainland and Hong Kong, South Korea and Mongolia, and Southeast Asia each contribute to run trade surpluses with the rest of the world, the reported noted.
Within the Asia and Pacific region, both Southeast Asia and South Korea and Mongolia export far more to China's mainland and Hong Kong than they import from them.
While trade between South Korea and Mongolia and Southeast Asia almost tripled between 1990 and 2001, and remains roughly in balance between exports and imports, Southeast Asia's exports to China's mainland and Hong Kong have grown more rapidly than exports in the other direction, it said.
The report noted concerns that China's mainland, as an important producer and exporter of wide-ranging manufactured goods, will displace other economies in the region also exporting such goods.
However, it pointed out, data show that other countries in the region have benefited from the dynamism of China's mainland and Hong Kong through rapid increases in trade and are in aggregate net exporters to the two economies.
Outsourcing and greater complexity in the production chain have contributed to rapid growth in trade both among economies in the Asian region and Asian trade with the rest of the world, the report added.
(eastday.com April 28, 2003)
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