BEIJING - Japanese
and South Korean enterprises are shifting their
investment focus in China from the northern Bohai Sea
Rim to the southeastern Yangtze River Delta.
Japanese and S Korean investment is still
increasing in Dalian and Tianjin, the traditional places
for enterprises from the two countries to invest, but
the investment growth in this region is slower than that
in the Yangtze River Delta.
A recent survey
shows the number of Japanese and S Korean enterprises in
the Yangtze River Delta is leapfrogging. So far, about
9,000 Japanese enterprises have registered in the
Yangtze River Delta, accounting for more than 40 per
cent of the total number of Japanese enterprises in
China.
As for South Korean, investment in
northeast China dropped from 15.3% in 2000 to 8.9% in
2002, while investment in the Yangtze River Delta rose
from 18.2% to 29%.
Currently, Japanese and S
Korean investments have been at their highest in Suzhou
and Wuxi, two industrial cities in the Yangtze River
Delta.
Data shows that by the end of May 2004,
Suzhou City had 1,431 Japanese-funded enterprises with a
registered Japanese investment of 5.13 billion US
dollars, and Wuxi had 740 Japanese-funded enterprises
with a registered Japanese investment of 3.381 billion
US dollars.
The combined investment in the two
cities has accounted for 30 per cent of Japan's total
investment in China.
Sony Co has concentrated
80% of its investment and four of its six representative
offices in the delta.
Since May this year, the
Wuxi High-Tech Development Zone has signed five S Korean
projects.
Investments from Japan and South Korea
are mainly concentrated upon the processing and
manufacturing industry. Currently, S Korea enterprises
mainly invest in the electronics industry, high precious
machinery (including auto parts and components), and
high-grade textiles, while Japanese enterprises prefer
to invest in the electronics, telecom equipment
manufacturing and machinery, instrument, and meters
sectors.
Now a growing number of investments
from the two countries are shifting from labor intensive
projects to technology and capital intensive projects.
For instance, Sony Co's investment in Wuxi has exceeded
100 million US dollars, and Sharp, the liquid crystal
display giant of Japan, has recently decided to add
nearly 100 million US dollars to gradually move its LCD
production capacity in Japan to Wuxi.
In the
meantime, more and more transnational companies have
moved their R&D centers to cities in the delta, such
as Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi.
Sony, for
instance, has initiated the construction of an R&D
center in Wuxi New Area, when building the global
manufacturing base there. To date, up to 21 R&D
centers have settled in the New Area.
(Asia
Pulse/XIC)
Oct 27, 2004
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