{"id":35998,"date":"2018-12-21T11:36:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T11:36:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-06-20T16:20:51","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T16:20:51","slug":"10998-thailand-woos-chinese-investment-for-major-industrial-revamp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/10998-thailand-woos-chinese-investment-for-major-industrial-revamp\/","title":{"rendered":"Thailand woos Chinese investment for major industrial revamp"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Thai government has ambitious plans to modernise the country\u2019s economy by transforming three provinces east of Bangkok with smart cities, high speed rail, new ports and airports.<\/p>\n

In November, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitat led sales pitches to Chinese investors when he took government officials and 65 Thai private companies to\u00a0Shanghai to promote the project, known as the Eastern Economic Corridor<\/a> (EEC), at the First China\u00a0International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.<\/p>\n

Somkid met with China\u2019s Vice Premier\u00a0Han Zheng in Beijing to talk about Thai-Chinese economic cooperation, according to China\u2019s Xinhua<\/em> news agency.<\/p>\n

The Thai government has been keen to involve China from the beginning, and previously described the EEC as a \u201csupport valve\u201d for China\u2019s immense global network of infrastructure projects known as the Belt and Road Initiative<\/a> (BRI).<\/p>\n

Big vision<\/h2>\n

Thailand\u2019s manufacturing base needs a major upgrade, so the government has come up with its own macro-economic grand plan \u2013 which it calls \u201cThailand 4.0\u201d \u2013 to transform its heavy industrial\u00a0base into a more nimble digital and innovation-based economy.\u00a0The EEC is a key part of this vision.<\/p>\n

In the 1980s, Thailand opened up to international investors, especially Japanese automotive and electronic companies, to establish export-oriented manufacturing. By 1988, its GDP was growing at 13% per annum. But by the turn of the twenty-first\u00a0century growth had stagnated, averaging 3% to 4% a year. Thailand 4.0 and the EEC are designed to tackle over-dependence on outdated manufacturing technology and cheap labour that has plunged the country into the so called \u201cdark decades\u201d.<\/p>\n

Local pain<\/h2>\n

To many people though, the EEC already feels like a disaster. Prakob Singhanat, 60, and his family of 10 have been ordered to leave\u00a0the rice farm in Bang Nam Priao district founded by his grandfather. They\u2019ve had an official letter ordering them to vacate and seen distant groups of military and government officials wordlessly inspecting the neighbourhood in EEC-belt Chachoengsao province.<\/p>\n

They have heard of plans for a new smart-city with high-speed railways, a digital hub, and innovative industrial zone. The project promises tens of thousands of jobs once investment arrives from Thai conglomerates, foreign investors and multinationals.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut no one has ever come to talk to me,\u201d\u00a0says Prakob angrily. \u201cI only know that if I and my family must leave this farm, we\u00a0have nowhere else to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another 635 people are threatened with eviction from land totalling 1,580\u00a0acres. They have farmed there for three generations but have no legal title to the land, and were unaware that the land they cultivated was being passed from one private owner to another before ending up in the hands of the state.<\/p>\n

Fifty kilometres away, land brokers have told yet more farmers to leave and make way for an EEC high-tech industrial zone. None of them are preparing to move out.<\/p>\n

Small victory<\/h2>\n

The EEC was launched by Thailand\u2019s military government but there was minimal public participation in drawing up the plans. Land rights have since become a major topic of public debate as the EEC requires a lot of land for new industrial zones and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The EEC legislation passed by parliament in early 2018 gives investors many privileges<\/a>, including land ownership rights or long leases on state land of up to 99 years, plus low corporate income tax and import duties exemption.<\/p>\n

The farmers at Bang Nam Priao have been protesting against eviction for nearly a year. In October, they won a partial victory when the EEC Office \u2013 the official government body promoting the EEC \u2013 dispatched its deputy secretary general Tasanee\u00a0Kiatpatraporn to talk to them. She said the government had no intention of using farmland in the area for the EEC and promised public consultations on any decisions.<\/p>\n

Courting China<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the EEC plans gathered pace in November as the Thai government wooed Chinese investors.<\/p>\n

During the Shanghai expo, Somkid met executives of Huawei and ZTE Corporation, and called on them<\/a> to invest in the EEC\u2019s digital industries and Thailand\u2019s development of 5G. He reportedly held a second official meeting with Alibaba Group executive chairman Jack Ma, a major public supporter of the BRI who in April promised to\u00a0pour 11 billion baht<\/a> (US$333 million) into the project for digital business and tourism promotion, big data facilities and e-commerce training for local entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Thailand 4.0\u00a0and EEC mega projects have a lot of potential to\u00a0coordinate with the BRI<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In China, Somkid declared that the year of 2019 would be the \u201cgolden year of investment\u201d in Thailand, and ordered the Board of Investment to design a\u00a0new package<\/a> of investor friendly policies.<\/p>\n

Apparently, Chinese investors are the main target of this new package. Somkid sees rising opportunities to link Thai markets to the BRI, especially as the US and China trade war may prompt Chinese investors to look for new investment destinations and markets to avoid the additional tariffs on Chinese products imposed by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

BRI synergies<\/h2>\n

Chinese officials assess the national economic policies of every country that participates in the BRI to look for ways to coordinate them with the global initiative. \u201cIt\u2019s also happened in Thailand where the Thailand 4.0\u00a0and EEC mega projects have a lot of potential to\u00a0coordinate with the BRI,\u201d says Dr\u00a0Aksornsri Phanishsarn, an expert on Thai-Chinese relations at Thammasat University\u2019s Faculty of Economics.<\/p>\n

There are geographical synergies too with one of the BRI\u2019s six \u201cnew Silk Road\u201d economic corridors, the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor. China identifies Thailand as \u201cthe most significant and fundamentally robust country in this peninsula,\u201d says Aksornsri.<\/p>\n

China is likely to get shares in most of the infrastructure projects<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Further similarities exist between Thailand\u2019s EEC and China\u2019s\u00a0\u201cMade in China 2025\u201d\u00a0strategy. China is seeking to upgrade existing hi-tech industries through digitisation and the EEC plan strives to attract those same industries, especially aviation and robotics. Coordination within the BRI framework could strengthen Thai-Chinese supply chain networks and expand export markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, Thailand must be cautious,\u201d\u00a0says Aksornsri, adding, \u201cChina seems to use unilateral decision making in dealing with its BRI counterparts and there\u2019s also a lack of transparency and good governance under BRI projects\u201d.<\/p>\n

Transport infrastructure<\/h2>\n

Along with attracting new investors, there are key EEC\u00a0infrastructure goals for a \u201cseamless\u201d\u00a0transportation network between Bangkok and eastern Thailand, and an overland route to transport Thai goods to southern China via Laos that connects Thailand into the BRI.<\/p>\n

China is currently developing\u00a0dual-railway tracks\u00a0linking Bangkok to\u00a0Nakhon Ratchasima, a major city in northeastern Thailand, which are likely to be extended to the Thai-Laos border town of Nong Khai in future. The rail route will connect to the EEC via another\u00a0225-billion-baht (US$7 billion)\u00a0high-speed rail\u00a0project linking Bangkok\u2019s two international airports, Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi with U-Tapao airport in eastern Rayong province.<\/p>\n

On the maritime route, the Thai government plans to expand the capacity of two deep seaports in the eastern region that are also align with the BRI \u2013 Laem Chabang Port phase three\u00a0in Chonburi,\u00a0Map Ta Phut Industrial Port phase three\u00a0in Rayong.<\/p>\n

Both ports are listed in the four EEC infrastructure projects, along with high-speed rail and\u00a0U-Tapao International Airport\u00a0in Rayong,\u00a0which the Thai government recently asked private firms to tender for.<\/p>\n

The government expects EEC projects to generate total investment of 500 billion baht (US$1.5 billion), and be built by public-private partnerships, entities with durations of 30 to 50 years.<\/p>\n

\"Map
\nThailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor<\/span><\/p>\n

Winners and losers<\/h2>\n

On 12 November, the EEC Office revealed bidders for the high-speed rail project linking\u00a0the three airports. The Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group\u00a0has formed\u00a0a consortium that includes China Railway Construction Corp Ltd, Italian-Thai Development PCL, and CH Karnchang PCL.<\/p>\n

Another bidder is Thailand\u2019s BRS Joint Venture, comprising of\u00a0BTS Group Holdings, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is likely to get shares in most of the infrastructure projects,\u201d says Somnuck Jongmeewasin,\u00a0an independent community researcher based in eastern Thailand.<\/p>\n

According to Somnuck, China\u2019s rising influence in the EEC is partly because other foreign companies are reluctant to make new investments given the ongoing unrest in Thai politics under the military government and potential for local opposition<\/p>\n

\u201cChina has no concern for Thai dictators, who\u00a0can fast-track procedures and environment impact assessments and award privileges for investors without consulting local opinion,” says Somnuck.<\/p>\n

Even though the EEC promises over 100-billion-baht annual investment in return, the big question is how it will distribute benefits to everyone from local to national level.<\/p>\n

There is no clarity on EEC processes on the ground<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Beyond Thailand\u2019s major conglomerates, local businesses are as much in the dark as the farmers. They are short of information about the exact locations of industrial zones or railways, detailed project timeframes or when agriculture land-use zoning will be legally fixed to permit industrial development.<\/p>\n

Overall, the EEC will boost the Thai economy says Meesak Chunharuckchote, chief executive of Chonburi Real Estate Association. \u201cBut the problem is, there is no clarity on EEC processes on the ground. There are some local investors who want to invest in the EEC but they don\u2019t see how they can engage with it at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

After parliament passed the EEC legislation in mid-2018, the real estate industry was among the first to feel the impact with a wave of speculative land purchases. \u201cLand prices are double,\u201d says Meesak, who cautions new developments will take many years.<\/p>\n

In rural Chachoengsao, home to rice farmer Prakob\u2019s family, land prices have soared this year as buyers bet on the planned smart-city of two million people with new universities, a digital educational centre, and good transport links, confirms Jompong Chutabtim, secretary-general of Chachoengsao Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n

He worries about whether there will be a well-balanced development that serves people\u2019s needs, especially given the lack of consultation: \u201cThrough the EEC, the government is selling dreams to local people. We welcome the changes but they must be for the better, not for the worse,\u201d says Jompong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The government wants to transform the country\u2019s eastern provinces with a new growth corridor, reports Paritta Wangkiat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2303,"featured_media":60287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[758],"tags":[556],"hashtags":[],"country":[],"class_list":["post-35998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-infrastructure"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThailand woos Chinese investment for major industrial revamp | Dialogue Earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The government wants to transform the country\u2019s eastern provinces with a new growth corridor, reports Paritta Wangkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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