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China

China represents both the great Asian hope and, at the same time, one of its greatest sources of competition. With WTO membership and upcoming events including the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the International Expo in Shanghai in 2010, China continues its growth in trade and commerce, “pulling Asia up by its bootstraps” as the South China Morning Post recently put it.

But as a competitor, few countries in the region can hope to match China as a source of low-cost labour for manufacturing and, increasingly, as a source of skilled graduates and seafarers. It remains a difficult market in which to operate, with linguistic barriers, cultural differences, contract violations and, above all, question-marks over legal recourse. But investors continue to be wooed by the gradual phasing-in of WTO commitments and by China’s promise of more open markets, regulation and legislation. Shanghai is coming of age as a shipping centre, while river trade expands to serve manufacturing centres ever deeper inland, as other countries follow Hong Kong and Taiwan in moving basic manufacturing to China while shifting emphasis at home to value-adding and services.

geo-economic data
Population: 1284.5m
National capital: Beijing
Land area: 9,561,000 sq km
Currency: Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
GDP: US$1235.66bn
GDP per capita: US$961.97
Real GDP growth: 7.6%
Unemployment: 4.0%
Inflation: -0.8%
Total exports: US$325.6bn 22.3% growth
Total imports: US$295.2bn 20.5% growth
Exports by country:
to the United States US$70.0bn 28.9% growth
to Hong Kong SAR US$58.5bn 25.6% growth
to Japan US$48.4bn 7.8% growth
to the European Union US$48.2bn 17.9% growth
to ASEAN countries US$23.6bn 28.3% growth
to South Korea US$15.5bn 23.8% growth
to Taiwan US$6.6bn 31.7% growth
to Russia US$3.5bn 29.9% growth

 

ISL KEY Port data
Container traffic
(totals TEU)		 1999 2000 2001
Dalian 736,000 1,011,600 1,217,000
Guangzhou 1,179,000 1,429,000 1,738,000
Ningbo 601,000 902,100 1,213,000
Qingdao 1,542,000 2,120,000 2,639,000
Shanghai 4,206,000 5,613,000 6,340,000
Shenzhen 2,984,000 3,794,000 5,076,000
Tianjin 1,302,000 1,708,000 2,011,000
Xiamen - 1,084,000 1,293,000
     
Cargo traffic
(totals ’000 MT)		 1999 2000 2001
Dalian 85,053 90,841 100,470
Guangzhou 101,521 111,310 128,229
Ningbo 96,601 115,474 128,523
Qingdao 72,560 86,665 103,980
Qinhuangdao 82,610 94,183 113,020
Shanghai 186,287 204,431 220,990
Shenzhen - 56,968 66,425
Tianjin 72,980 95,699 113,690

Geoecon stats: PRC govt. 2002 figures.
Port stats: ISL Port Data Base. 2001 unless stated. *=2000.

  
   
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