Hunan Industries Eager To Forge Economic Ties With ASEAN

By Erda Khursyiah Basir HUNAN (CHINA), May 30 (Bernama) -- The mountainous province of Hunan in central China is well known for its stunning cliffs and, more recently, its highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge in Zhangjiajie. However, not many know that this region also figures prominently in the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, an ambitious foreign and economic policy introduced by China President Xi Jingping in 2013. This writer was among 20 journalists from 10 ASEAN member states who were invited to participate in a 10-day tour of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces last month. It was organised by the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China and ASEAN-China Centre in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of ASEAN and Year of China-ASEAN Tourism Cooperation. Themed "Jointly Building 21st Century Maritime Silk Road", the trip was aimed at exposing the media to the Hunan and Jiangxi regions' growing industries and their achievements under the Belt and Road initiative, as well as prospects of their cooperation with ASEAN. LEADING HEAVY EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS Hunan used to be known for its agricultural produce such as rice, tea and ramie. Today, it is a strategic manufacturer of steel and electronic products and machinery, as well as construction equipment like concrete pumps and cranes. The ASEAN media delegation got to visit several major corporations based in Hunan and listen to briefings on the OBOR initiative by various industry captains. Most of the manufacturing companies located in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, have a monopoly of the construction and heavy equipment markets not only in China but in the world as well. One of them Sany Group Co. Ltd., established in 1989, started as a small welding company but has since grown into the largest heavy equipment manufacturer in China, and fifth largest in the world. Besides concrete pumping machinery, which is the first of its kind in the world, the group also manufactures excavators, crawler cranes, rotary drilling rigs and coal mining machinery. When Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, Sany Group's subsidiary Sany Heavy Industry donated a truck equipped with a 62-metre concrete pump to Tokyo Electric Power Company to help contain the nuclear crisis. DEVELOPING THE ASEAN ECONOMY Another local leading manufacturer of construction machinery is Sunward Group, which was set up in 1999 and is listed among the top 50 global enterprises manufacturing construction machinery. It is also among the top 20 companies in the world for excavator brands. Having established economic and trading ties with ASEAN member states beginning 2005, Sunward now has subsidiaries in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore. In a press briefing, group chairman He Qinghua said the ASEAN region has become very strategic due to the rapid pace of its economic development. In fact, he added, Sunward's business dealings with the grouping has seen a twofold increase in recent years. He hoped the tour would give the media delegation a better picture of the innovative developments in the engineering and construction machinery manufacturing industries in China and in particular Changsha, also dubbed the "City of Engineering Machinery". He pointed out that the OBOR initiative included promoting closer economic ties between ASEAN and China and hoped the visit would help enlighten the media on how the ASEAN economy can be developed and become more significant in the future. "We want our partnership with ASEAN to be a win-win situation for us," he told the reporters. Sunward's products like the hydraulic static pile driver, excavator, rotary drilling rig and rock drilling equipment have had a presence in the Malaysian market since 2008. JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR LOCALS The next stop for the media group was Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group, located in Xiangtan, about 55 kilometres from Changsha. It is a leading supplier of port material handling equipment, and offshore engineering equipment. Besides manufacturing, it is also involved in the design and research and development aspects of machinery used at ports. Tidfore general manager (overseas operations) Chen Zhongping, in his media briefing, said the company has benefited from the OBOR initiative and has signed agreements worth 100 million yuan (about RM62.2 million) with countries such as Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Nigeria, Iran, Mongolia, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines. "Tidfore has made great achievements in the domestic and overseas markets by seizing the strategic opportunity of the One Belt, One Road policy and the support of the ASEAN Infrastructure Investment Bank and Silk Road Fund. “For ASEAN countries, we try to help boost local economic development and the construction industry through, for example, resource allocation and localisation strategy of labour management. "We try to use local materials sourced from the country where our project is located and hire the locals. We also pay attention to improving the skills of the local employees,” he said. SEIZING THE OBOR OPPORTUNITY The ASEAN media delegation also made site visits to other corporations in Hunan, such as Hunan Leopard Automobile Co. Ltd., Hunan Broadcasting System, Xiangjiang-Goaling International Trade City, Central China (Hunan) Import and Export Commodities Center, CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd., Xunda Science & Technology Group Co. Ltd. and XEMC Windpower Co. Ltd. Xunda, a high-tech company involved in scientific research, also manufactures appliances like gas stoves, water heaters and ovens, and has forged joint ventures with several companies in ASEAN, including Malaysia. Hunan Leopard Automobile, a leading carmaker, has also chosen ASEAN as one of its overseas markets. It is confident that the OBOR policy would pave the way for closer cooperation between China and ASEAN in the automotive industry. Besides enabling the ASEAN journalists to experience central China's dynamism and momentum, the media tour also revealed the optimism of the leading industry players towards the OBOR platform, which can not only create new markets for their products but help to develop more holistic ties between China and ASEAN. -- BERNAMA