China offers great opportunities to Thai small and medium-sized enterprises who want to sell their products via the world’s largest online shopping platform, experts said.
Those who have visited China several times during the past decade would have been left wondering at the scale and volume of the ongoing construction projects ranging from condominium buildings to mass transit system, TNA reported.
Thais, with the benefit of hindsight, are reminded of the Asian financial crisis of 1997 when a similar construction boom in Bangkok blew up after the Thai economic meltdown triggered a regional crisis.
Chinese authorities often explain that the new residential units would be absorbed by the high demand due to rapid urbanization while the high speed rail between provinces and the mass transit system in big cities are a necessity to ease traffic jams.
The ambitious infrastructure projects go beyond China’s border, or along the Belt and Road Initiative which involves about 60 countries. China has offered loans to many countries, including Laos, Cambodia and Pakistan to finance high-speed rail, seaports and roads.
“Large public debt is an issue of concern, as provincial governments have been racing to build infrastructure and other projects to boost their economies, leading to debt piling up in the banking system” said Aksornsri Phanishsarn, an economics lecturer at Thammasat University, who specializes in China’s economy.
Against this backdrop, China has been trying to seek new friends, especially among Asean and South Asian counties.
There are 772 million Chinese Internet users of whom 650 million shop online. This is a great opportunity for Thai SMEs to sell their products using online platforms,” said Aksornsri. And China’s online trade is the world’s largest.
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