China for free trade zone with ASEAN

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

MUMBAI, OCT. 5. China is ``thinking hard'' about a free trade zone, comprising itself and the ASEAN, even as it would like to ``align with India'' to have the rules of World Trade Organisation not ``tilted against the developing world'', according to a high-ranking Chinese official now visiting India.

Mr. Hua Junduo, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China, said in an interview here today that this would be a compulsive need since future relations would be dependent more on trade and commerce than anything else. ``Economic relations are the basis of all relations.''

Even as it moves closer towards the WTO, China is worried of Western dominance. Mr. Hua said, ``The West wrote the rules for the WTO. If it suits them, they want free trade; if it does not, they want barriers.'' India and China could aid each other and also protect the interests of the developing world.

Mr. Hua was speaking to The Hindu at a luncheon by India-China Chamber of Commerce. He was proud that China was an emerging economic giant, where multinationals wanted to or had set up joint ventures and sourced items for consumption in the Western market, impressed with the low manufacturing costs and the infrastructure. He will meet Indian policymakers later in New Delhi.

China was ``not flooding the market here or elsewhere, but found favour with consumers because we are competitive''. Apprehensions were mainly because India ``is where China was at the start of the Eighties when we opened up. There are similarities. There were cries of Chinese markets being flooded with foreign goods but our leadership came to terms with it and decided to learn from that experience.'' The results are now visible.

He asked why any market should deny Chinese goods the appreciation or patronage they deserved. ``We are competitive in Western Europe where our refrigerators are preferred. Half the air conditioners in the U.S. are Chinese made.'' The other reason is the scale on which the Chinese work - they make 25 million television sets every year ``that can match Japanese products'' and of which a third are exported and ``no way can anyone compete with us in this''.

Mr. Hua said they were keen on the growth of their enterprises not only within China but also in the form of joint ventures in India. ``You give us land, labour and facilities and we will give you technology.''

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