China's spectacular growth is a huge opportunity rather than a threat for Asean countries, regional economists gathered here said on Thursday.
Delegates to the Federation of Asean Economic Associations noted that China was an emerging competitor with Southeast Asian countries but that Beijing's opening up of its markets was also absorbing more exports from neighbours.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members may also become "an attractive bridge between the emerging giants" of China and India, said Asian Development Bank (ADB) chief economist Ifzal Ali at the forum.
"There are already signs of the emergence of Asia-wide production networks which are driven by a manufacturing supply chain between Asean and China and a services supply chain between Asean and India," Ali said.
Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Economists from the Monetary Authority of Singapore meanwhile remarked that China's growth had been accompanied by a jump in intra-regional trade, outpacing the growth of trade with North America or Europe.
The monetary authority's paper said that China's strongest demand for inputs was in the area of high-end products like semiconductors, adding that such a situation will likely "persist in the future."
The report also said that Asean could still be competitive, with many multinational companies maintaining or expanding operations in Asean to diversify risk.
"When non-labour costs are taken into account, China is not so cheap," the report said, adding that excess competition was also eroding profits with many companies in China earning less than their counterparts elsewhere in Asia.
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