With the 10-member Southeast Asian Nations Association surpassing the United States this year to become China's second-largest trading ally, its member economies are pushing for more manufacturing facilities across the country to seek new growth opportunities.
Pan Sorasak, Minister of Trade for Cambodia, said that by the end of this month the country will open its sixth trade center in China to further promote bilateral trade, investment, culture, and tourism ties.
The new trade center will be based in Kunming, the capital city of the Yunnan province of southwestern China, he said, and the opening ceremony of Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly is scheduled.
Biggest Source of FDI
Cambodian products related to cultural and tourism sites, business environment and investment potential in Cambodia will be featured at the center, Ly said in a speech at the annual conference of the ministry.
According to the official, five existing Cambodian trade centers in China are located in Guangzhou in southern Guangdong province, Xi'an in northwestern Shaanxi province, Haining in eastern Zhejiang province, Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, and Yantai in eastern Shandong province.
Seang Thay, the spokesperson for the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, said Cambodia saw China as a huge market for its products, especially agricultural ones. China is Cambodia's largest source of foreign direct investment as well as tourists, and the nation's key trading partner.
The Southeast Asian nation attracted a total investment of $21 billion from China from 1994 to date, according to data from the Cambodian government.
Top Trading Partner
On the tourism side, over the first 10 months of 2019, the country gained 2 million Chinese tourists, up 24 percent over the same period last year. And for trade, last year's bilateral trade volume amounted to $6.6 billion and is expected to reach $10 billion by 2023.
For a decade, China has been the top trading partner of ASEAN. Between January and November this year, the volume of bilateral trade reached $578.04 billion, jumping 7.5 percent year-on-year. With promising trade prospects, both sides are aiming for a joint investment target of $1 trillion in two-way trade and $150 billion by 2020.
Asia Pulp & Paper Co, an Indonesia-based paper product manufacturer, pledged to increase its investment in China as the country's demand for baking paper, oil-proof paper, packaging paper, baby care, and biodegradable paper products has increased due to strong buying power in major cities and the rapid pace of urbanization across the nation.
