China’s growth will continue to outpace the global average and China’s development and urbanization process will continue to “forge new markets, new opportunities for exchange and new knowledge economies,” said Stuart Gulliver, group chief executive of HSBC Holdings.
He noted that China’s 13th Five-Year Plan is expected to give support to companies in information technology, the environmental sector, agriculture, healthcare, medical apparatus and education, Xinhua reported.
These are “all areas in which Australia has ready-made expertise,” Gulliver said on Nov 7 in Australia.
Headway made in implementing the Belt and Road Initiative deserves regional and global attention, according to Wang Lili, a member of the APEC China Business Council.
Wang said the Belt and Road Initiative has already activated 300-400 billion Chinese yuan or RMB ($47-62.8 billion) in investment, offering vast opportunities for infrastructure inter-connectivity, e-commerce, and the energy sector.
APEC economic leaders will meet here on Wednesday to discuss ways toward more inclusive economies, with deliberations around financial integration, fiscal reforms and transparency, financial resilience, and infrastructure development, according to Gil Beltran, finance undersecretary of the Philippines.
On the topics set to be discussed in Manila, China will also have constructive proposals and contributions to share, especially after the establishment of the AIIB and the gradual advance of the RMB’s internationalization.
The Chinese proposals will not only boost confidence building in the APEC community, which covers 40% of the world’s population and produces 57% of the global gross domestic product, but will also provide rich cooperation opportunities for individual APEC members.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, former Philippine President Joseph Estrada said the Philippines needs China’s help in infrastructure construction so as to modernize the country.
“It is necessary for the Philippines to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. I hope China will help us,” said Estrada, who is also mayor of Manila.
Trade With China
“China has become a very important economy for APEC. The growth of China has driven the global economy for many years in a row,” said Jaime Zobel de Ayala, chairman and CEO, Ayala Corporation Philippines.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Wednesday, Ayala said that anything that facilitates trade into China and allows capital from China to move to APEC countries will be very productive to economic systems of all of the APEC economies.
“Ninety percent of our telecommunication equipment at Globe Telecom is from Chinese company Huawei,” said Ayala, who added that Huawei offers high quality products at very good price.
Ayala Corporation is the holding company of Globe Telecom, a major provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines.
“I can imagine a lot of Filipino companies are having similar interactions with Chinese companies and I assume China also wants to have its products and services to enter new markets,” said Ayala.
