'Brunei, China ties growing steadily'

Ambassador of China Ms Yang Yanyi.

China's Vice Premier Wu Yi is set to pay an official visit to Brunei Darussalam September 23-25 to enhance the bilateral relations between Brunei and China and to deepen the all-round cooperation between the two countries.

On the eve of the Chinese Vice Premier's visit, an interview was conducted by Radio Television Brunei (RTB) with Ambassador of China to Brunei Darussalam Ms Yang Yanyi. Following are the excerpts of the interview:

RTB: Your Excellency, Brunei Darussalam and the People's Republic of China were the main proponents for intensified efforts to be made towards advancing human capacity building (HCB) through and within APEC, which endorsed the proposal. How far has China achieved this?

Ms Yang: It is very true that both China and Brunei are strong supporters and proponents of human capacity building. The initiative to advance HCB within APEC had its origin in the visions of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam and Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other APEC leaders and was endorsed by the APEC High Level Meeting back in May 2001.

With a view to attaining the established goals of APEC and ensuring our people benefit from the knowledge-based economy, China has over the years put in place a combination of policies and measures to meet the challenge of HCB:

- China has adopted a more integrated approach to development which focuses on people. For that matter, China has integrated HCB within the overall social and economic development strategy and has given high priority to education and science and technology.

- China has strengthened primary education and education of higher learning and vocational training focusing on quality. At present, the net enrolment rate in elementary schools in China is 98.6 per cent, the gross enrolment rate in junior high schools has reached 90 per cent, and the number of college students is 11 million.

- China is popularising the concept of creating a learning society. In this connection, we have exerted efforts to set up a life-long learning education system, including vigorously develop extensive vocational education, multi-tiered education and training network, and speed up information technology.

- China is also intensifying institutional reform so as to create a sound environment for talents to stand out and display their ability and creativity.

- China has been mobilising resources to meet the demands of HCB. Since 1998, the percentage of funds allotted to education by the central government has witnessed one per cent increase annually. In 2003, the fund for education was US$43 billion, 3.4 per cent of the GDP.

- China has been actively broadening various cooperation channels with other countries to advance HCB. Since 1978, some 700,000 Chinese students have studied in more than 100 countries and regions, among whom 170,000 have returned to China after finishing their studies.

Meanwhile, China has received more than 400,000 students from 170 countries and regions. Since 1978, China has employed 824,000 foreign experts and sent 378,000 technicians or managers to study abroad.

RTB: How can Brunei and China work together to pursue HCB for mutual benefit?

Ms Yang: China and Brunei share common interest in strengthening HCB, and there are many windows of opportunity for cooperation between the two countries.

There is the need to share experience in developing our respective national strategies in HCB. We are aware that His Majesty's Government has made HCB and ICT important components of the national diversification strategy.

Early this month, during the National Summit on Information Society, His Majesty underlined the importance of ICT capabilities in assisting the economic development as well as improving the standard of living.

Both countries have made headways in the establishment of a sound life-long learning system to include re-employment education, continual training and upgrading of knowledge and skills for workers.

It is our shared interest to enhance collaboration in the field of digital communications. I am pleased to see that the two countries have enjoyed fruitful cooperation so far.

The launching of the first 3G network or B-Mobile Communications in Brunei early this month, in which the Chinese company Hua Wei participated, opened a new chapter in the era of digital communications in Brunei.

We can also provide joint training in business management, trade, finance, securities, insurance, customs, law, accounting and human resources management.

For your information, China has for many successive years run short-term courses for Asean countries on a wide range of functional cooperation, and these courses have been very instrumental in HCB.

The broadening of exchange of students should be further encouraged. Over the years, Chinese students have come to study in UBD. We look forward to having students from Brunei study in China.

In this connection, efforts shall be made to facilitate mutual recognition of education and professional qualifications based on standards of achievement and outcomes that are mutually agreed.

RTB: What is Your Excellency's assessment on the current economic trade and other economic-related development between Brunei and China?

Ms Yang: We are quite pleased with the development of economic, trade and other economic-related cooperation between our two countries.

It is fair to say that economic and trade cooperation between China and Brunei are characterised by steady growth, expansion in breath and deepening in depth.

Trade volume between our two countries in the early years of the establishment of diplomatic relations, namely in the early 1990s, was around US$10 million annually.

In recent years, it went up to US$300 million annually. Now the cooperation between the two countries covers a whole spectrum of areas ranging from economic, trade, energy, and ICT to tourism, auditing, customs, human resource development, education, public health and people-to-people exchange.

Having said so, I believe that there is still much room for improvement. With the trade volume standing at US$300 million presently, we need to work hard to reach the US$1 billion trade target in the coming years.

For that matter, we shall continue to focus on strengthening cooperation in energy. We need to explore the potential of cooperation in tourism. And entrepreneurs of our respective countries should be encouraged to collaborate further in trade and service sectors.

RTB: China is increasingly becoming a fast-growing market for motor vehicles, a portion of which is met by domestically manufactured cars. Has it plan to export cars, including to Brunei, just like Japan and Korea do?

Ms Yang: With China joining the WTO, the auto industry is becoming the fastest growing industry. China's auto output in 2003 was around four million and according to some expectations, by 2010 the figure will surpass 10 million.

Apart from meeting domestic auto consumption, China has been exporting automobiles and related products.

According to official data, by the end of the first half of this year, there are around 1,026 companies engaged in auto export. And in the first six months of this year, China exported US$5 billion worth of automobiles, components and spare parts, representing a year-on-year increase of 38.3 per cent, with the export of automobiles standing at 378,800.

The advantages of China's domestically manufactured autos are, among others, reasonable price, good quality, environment friendly and low consumption of energy. Because of that they have attracted interest around the world. At the recent auto expo held in Frankfurt, China-made autos made a splash and received encouraging responses.

As far as I know, China's domestically manufactured autos have also aroused strong interest here in Brunei. And China-made cars have started to make their appearance here.

Having said so, China is just making its way into the already crowded world market. China's auto export volume is very small if compared with the global auto export volume. There is a long way to go before China becomes one of the world's major auto suppliers.

RTB: India and China are the two fast-growing economic giants, and both have comparatively cheap labour. Both have also achieved supremacy in some industrial sectors. As a member of the WTO, how do you see China's impact on the world economic and trade balance?

Ms Yang: That's a big question. I can hardly do justice to it in a very short answer. But let me say this: With its sheer size, coupled with a rapid growth of 9.7 per cent a year on an average from 1990 to 2003, China has become a major player in the global economy, having a dramatic impact both within China and around the world.

In normal terms, China currently accounts for almost four per cent of the world output. Measured on a PPP basis, China's share of the global output was a shade over 13 per cent in 2004.

According to one statistic, China's contribution to global GDP growth since 2000 has been almost twice as large as that of the next three biggest emerging economies - India, Brazil and Russia - combined. China's fast growth has been essential to the sound development of the regional and the world economy and is an important factor in underpinning the current global upturn.

While people tend to focus on China's rising share of global output and exports, fearing that China is snatching production and jobs from the rest of the world, I wish to point out that this misses half the story.

Over the past decade, China's imports have risen at the same pace as its exports. In the year 2004, import by China represented more than a third of total world imports.

For the five Asean countries - Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines - China has become an increasingly important market. In 1995, China accounted for 2.6 per cent of five Asean exports. In 2003 that figure went up to 6.7 per cent.

According to the latest information, trade between China and Asean reached nearly US$60 billion in the first half of this year, a 25 per cent growth. This indicates that the buoyancy of China's economy has been crucial for other Asian economies.

In short, China's rapid growth has brought opportunities, challenges and competition both for China and the rest of the world.

As pointed out by many experts, by and large, the opportunities offered by China's growth are increasingly important for Asia and the world. It is in all our interests that the Chinese economic miracle is sustained. - Courtesy Chinese Embassy

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin