The growth of China will bring opportunities to other East Asian countries, according to Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, while addressing the East Asia Investment Forum 2007 in Beijing on July 14.

The forum was jointly sponsored by the Network of East Asian Think-tanks (NEAT), China National Association for International Studies (CNAIS), China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU) and Chongqing Foreign Economic Relation and Trade Commission.
 
Wu Jianmin, executive vice president of CNAIS and President of CFAU, Liao Xiaoqi, vice minister of commerce and Cui Tiankai, assistant minister of foreign affairs also attended the meeting.

Speaking at the forum, Cheng noted that economic globalization and regional integration are more prominent now than before.

"Since the end of the 1997 financial crisis, East Asia countries have pulled their strength together, promoted cooperation in political, economic and security fields, and actively promoted the establishment of regional cooperation mechanisms," he said.

"China and other East Asian countries are interdependent on their road of development. When facing opportunities and challenges, Asian countries should enhance their mutual trust, communication and understanding, and take into consideration each other's concerns."

Cheng also stressed that economy is a major area of cooperation. The Chinese government takes a positive attitude towards facilitating cooperation in investment in East Asia, he said.

China's Ministry of Commerce reported a record-breaking outbound direct investment of over US$12 billion in 2005.

According to the analysis from the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Korea was the top location for Chinese outbound direct investment in 2005, taking in some US$589 million. After Korea came the US, Russia and Australia which received US$232 million, US$200 million and US$193 million respectively.

"As a whole, East Asia is one of the most remarkable regions globally in terms of economic diversity. The great differences in the level of development, industrial structure and resource have made East Asian economies highly complementary," Cheng said.

Statistics released at the forum showed that foreign exchange reserves of the 13 nations in East Asia stands at US$240 trillion, roughly two thirds of the global total.

East Asian countries need at least US$1 trillion for infrastructure development, with an annual average amount of US$200 billion in the coming five years.

Cheng also pinpointed manifold energy areas for cooperation, for instance, the joint exploitation of onshore oil-gas resources and the South China Sea. "It is in the best interest of every party to shelve disputes and exploit those areas in a mutually beneficial way," he said.

The two-day East Asia Investment Forum 2007 focused on such practical issues as how Chinese enterprises optimize overseas strategy by overcoming legal and system differences, trade obstacles and cultural gaps, how to acquire overseas market, technology and brand for them and how to establish resources base overseas.

The forum aims at promoting a dynamic interaction among governments, businesses and academia and jointly setting up an open and high-level dialogue and cooperation platform.

 (China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Wang Ke, July 15, 2007)