ASEAN Manufacturing Challenges China's "World Factory"

"Good quality and low price" was once a common impression of "made in China". But in the Ninth China ASEAN Expo held in Nanning, Guangxi in from September 21st to 25th, people noticed that "ASEAN manufacturing" was also cheap and even cheaper: Thailand clothing, Malaysia coffee, Vietnam. Slipper ...

It seems that the rise of ASEAN manufacturing industry has become an indisputable fact that manufacturing capital transfer from China to ASEAN countries has become a trend. In the face of the challenge of "ASEAN manufacturing", can China's "world factory" status continue to maintain "made in China" and where to go? Is China and ASEAN manufacturing competitors or partners?

　　 "World factory" China faces challenges

Where is the first place to invest and set up factories? manufacturing industry For the past ten years, the answer is mostly China. Now the answer may be Southeast Asia. China's "world factory" status is facing challenges.

Take Nike, a famous sports brand from Vietnam, as an example. In 2000, China produced 40% of the world's Nike shoes, ranking first in the world. Now Vietnam has replaced China as the world's largest producer of Nike shoes.

The 2012 world investment report released by the joint China World Trade Center conference shows that foreign direct investment inflows into Southeast Asia reached 117 billion US dollars in 2011, an increase of 26% over the same period last year, while China's growth rate was less than 8% in the same period. Not only did foreign capital originally invested in China transfer to ASEAN countries, but also manufacturing industries in eastern China moved towards ASEAN countries.

Chen Jiagui, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that China, as a big trading country, has maintained trade surplus with many countries in Europe and America for a long time. Because of its pursuit of trade balance, forcing RMB appreciation and winning votes for election, European and American countries tend to create trade frictions against China and increase trade barriers against "made in China". However, European and American countries "need to import from other regions even if they do not import from China". The transfer of manufacturing to ASEAN countries can effectively avoid these barriers.

　　 "ASEAN manufacturing" is hard to shake "made in China"

Although "made in China" has encountered the challenge of "ASEAN manufacturing", experts at the Ninth China ASEAN Expo generally believe that China's manufacturing industry still has strong advantages over the next period of time. China's manufacturing industry chain and labor quality in the process of reform and opening up in the 30 years are still in the leading position in the world.

Chen Jiagui judged that although some enterprises will "move out" in the future, the volume will not be large. He believes that although the labor cost of ASEAN countries is relatively low, the quality of labor is not as good as that of the mainland. At present, China has basically popularized the nine year compulsory education, and the quality of labor is relatively high. "This is the incomparable of most ASEAN countries".

At the same time, compared with China, the infrastructure construction of ASEAN countries is lagging behind. Guangdong Li Hui, deputy general manager of Zhen Rong Energy Limited, said that some countries in the ASEAN region are not very well equipped, increasing investment pressure and prolonging the construction cycle.

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Experts believe that even if a part of foreign-funded enterprises go to Southeast Asian countries, these foreign enterprises will inevitably encounter the pressure of industrial chain reconstruction. In fact, the foreign enterprises that have been or are under the "Southeast Asia" have formed a very difficult relationship with China's "world factory". Although these enterprises have left China, from the perspective of future upstream and downstream relations, to a large extent, China can not do without the large system of manufacturing industry in China. At present, the ASEAN electronic industry is incomplete, and many parts must be transported from the Pearl River Delta to increase logistics and time cost.

　 China and ASEAN: cooperation or competition?

Faced with the sense of crisis brought about by the rise of ASEAN manufacturing, experts and scholars are optimistic about this. They believe that this will be a good opportunity for China's manufacturing industry to transform and upgrade, and there is a broad prospect for bilateral manufacturing cooperation.

Chen Jiagui said that China should strive to achieve the "industrial difference layout" with ASEAN, that is, in line with China's current industrial structure upgrading and transfer strategy, transferring some of the manufacturing capacity to Southeast Asian countries with relatively low labor force, which not only solves the development of local labor and related industries, but also optimizes the layout of China's domestic industry.

In September 22nd, the "2012 China ASEAN advanced manufacturing development forum", with the theme of "cooperation, progress and win-win", was held in Nanning. Su Bo, Vice Minister of industry and information technology, said at the forum that ASEAN is rich in oil and natural gas resources, and is also the main rubber plantation and export area, while China is the main importer. At the same time, in China and ASEAN member countries, the per capita monthly salary is the highest of over 4000 US dollars, the lowest level is only 100 US dollars, and there is a significant gradient in the industrial level.