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The American Chamber of Commerce in South China
percent of these multinationals each increasing their investments track and that there needs to be renewed efforts for economic
by US$250 million or more. Results indicate that a majority of
companies see the BIT, of which this White Paper provides a
recent update, as an opportunity for business development.
When asked about influences of the “One Belt, One Road”
(OBOR) program initiated by the Chinese government, and
which is also introduced and covered in this White Paper, 37.5
percent of participating companies expected their revenues to
increase somewhat or greatly. This White Paper also examines
the recent expansion of the pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ)
program from Shanghai into other selected regions in China
and our Study reported that 38 percent of participants reported
interest in expanding operations into a South China FTZ, with
a vast majority expressing preference for a Guangdong FTZ and
Nansha emerging as a clear favorite with 67 percent of the vote.
Another new question added to this year’s Study was the Cross-
Border E-Commerce initiative by the Chinese government, as
for those companies who have been or plan on being involved,
61 percent reported that most of their foreign imports will
come from the United States.
It is encouraging to observe the positive response of
multinational business to China’s ongoing economic reforms.
As the Chinese economy continues to transition, moving from
its former export-led manufacturing growth model to a more
mature, sustainable, knowledge and services-focused model,
following a similar economic trajectory to those of Japan and
South Korea, the Special Report Study, as well as this White
Paper, cuts through the fog of negative media reports zeroing
in on the decline of China’s export manufacturing industries.
This year revealed that almost half of our Study participants are
involved in manufacturing or trading goods and more than half
involved in providing services; what unites those two groups is
that 75.6 percent of all participants report providing goods or
services to the Chinese market as their primary business focus
instead of creating goods or services for export.
It is clear that China needs to put growth on a sustainable
restructuring. We feel that the Chinese leadership’s call for
“supply-side economic reform”, announced in late 2015 as a
strategic framework for the 13th Five-Year Plan, is particularly
timely. While we are of the opinion that “supply-side reform”
in China may not exactly be one hundred percent equivalent
to President Ronald Reagan’s supply-side economic policies
of thirty years ago, Premier Li was quoted as saying in both
local and international media in late December 2015 that
China has to enhance “structural changes” as part of “supply-
side economic reform.” According to the Premier, measures
for “supply-side reform” will include “introducing tax cuts,
upgrading manufacturing facilities and embracing internet-
based applications”, specific initiatives which are going to be
welcomed by companies with business operations in China.
China faces a long and difficult journey in its road towards
reform and a lot of work needs to be done. This White Paper
will show that modest, cautious progress is already being made
in structural economic reform initatives - as China’s partners,
we can only encourage and support its leadership to stay the
course and accelerate these reforms moving forward, for a
stable, productive and successful 2016 for everyone concerned.
With best regards,
Harley Seyedin
President
The American Chamber of Commerce in South China
Vice Chairman, U.S.-China Trade and Investment Policy
The Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers of Commerce
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