The ASEAN Conference in Hanoi
On Tuesday, September 11, the ten Asean countries met in the capital of Vietnam -Hanoi- for a three-day conference. The member states, which in addition to Thailand also include Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, will discuss the trade war between the important neighbor China and the United States for three days.
Although China is not an ASEAN member state, it is a more than important partner from an economic point of view and the reciprocal import duties between China and the United States can have a major impact on the Asean countries, which are almost without exception dependent on exports.
It is not surprising that many heads of government of these countries are present in Hanoi. Nor should it come as a surprise that relatively many introductions are given by Chinese delegates.
World Trade Organization (WTO)
Following the WTO, the ASEAN countries want to cooperate more as economic partners with Japan, Australia, India, South Korea and, not to be underestimated, China. The ASEAN countries - with over 600 million people - are aware that they form an important market. Economically speaking, the region is doing well. Yet there are also other voices, particularly regarding technological developments within the ASEAN member states.
Many of the Asian countries lag behind, not least with regard to education.
China
The meeting in Hanoi is not a specific ASEAN conference but officially labeled as World Economic Forum. It will come as no surprise that China has been assigned an important role in this. China is the major investor in the region and to stay with Thailand just look around you, especially in the various industrial areas.
Prosperity
Economic progress remains a strange thing. The Thai currency is quite stable and if you have to believe it all, it is all going more than excellent economically.
Your author lives with great pleasure in the Netherlands and likes to spend the winter months in Thailand and neighboring countries, but still …
Making a comparison with the average resident of; 'name an Asian country' with, to stay close to home, Belgium or the Netherlands. Dear friends who moved to Thailand, tell me honestly. If you would have seen the world light in Thailand, would you have been able to live the same beautiful life as a retired person? Just be honest and don't tell me now that you worked so incredibly hard and took care of that pension yourself and paid a lot of taxes.
The Netherlands and Belgium are fantastic countries. This old fellow with Belgian roots and a Dutch passport has traveled to many countries worldwide and always returns home with a good and happy feeling to the small country called the Netherlands. Economy is a nice word for politicians, but the citizen experiences prosperity firsthand.
The paragraph with the heading China says that China is a big investor and that we should look at industrial areas. Well that is another text from someone who has no knowledge of what is happening in Thailand.
Just a statement about 2017 in percentages of foreign investments in Thailand:
Japan 37.9
Singapore 486066
Taiwan 8.8
Netherlands 7.4
Germany 4.2
Switzerland 3.9
Mauritius 3.9
United Kingdom 3.5
Source: Bank of Thailand, SantanderTradePortal
If you tour around Thailand a bit, you will mainly see Japanese companies when you talk about foreign investors. So I don't come across China as an investor of any importance.
It says that China is a major investor in the region, not that it is in Thailand! The industrial areas where it concerns can therefore be throughout Asia, the article is about several Asian countries.
China is indeed a major investor in the region. China is a power house. Chinese people have to wait patiently for offered or occurring opportunities. Look at the ever-increasing investment in Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia. They deploy many of their own people to carry out large projects, especially in key positions. After completion of a project, the key functions are for Chinese, but also at a somewhat lower level. This also encourages mixing with the local population, who often get the lowest paid jobs in the completed project and have little or no say. Investments are not only taking place on industrial estates but also in infrastructure, including renovated or new residential areas, hotels, casinos and other projects that attract tourists. The investments are becoming so large that the countries involved become dependent on China, which means that China can in fact incorporate them without a fight. The fact that the US warns China by stating that it knows what China is doing will not stop them from continuing in this way, but perhaps at a slower pace.
Indonesia is likely to remain unaffected and so is Singapore as long as it remains an important financial center. The Thai, of course, say it won't happen to them. Time will tell…
The Thais are too proud to admit that they are already up to their necks in the "Chinese".
Currently the developments in East Thailand with the EEC.
Thailand rolls out red carpet for 500 Chinese companies – Nikkei…
https://asia.nikkei.com/…/Thailand-rolls-out-red-carpet-for-500-C…
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Aug 24, 2018 – BANGKOK — Thailand is welcoming 500 Chinese companies over the weekend and expecting to sign more than a dozen bilateral contracts …
I don't like the publications of the Bangkok Post because they are often incorrect in terms of content in terms of figures. Google the internet and you will come across plenty of real numbers publications showing that Japan is the major investor in the Asean countries. For example, in the following publication in the Financial Times showing that in the last 7 years since 2010, investment from Japan increased from 14% to 20% of total investment in ASEAN countries, and that from China from 7% to 14%.
https://www.ft.com/content/898fa38e-4882-11e8-8ee8-cae73aab7ccb
In response to this statement,
Making a comparison with the average resident of; 'name an Asian country' with, to stay close to home, Belgium or the Netherlands. Dear friends who moved to Thailand, tell me honestly. If you would have seen the world light in Thailand, would you have been able to live the same beautiful life as a retired person? Just be honest and don't tell me now that you worked so incredibly hard and took care of that pension yourself and paid a lot of taxes.
Of course, if you were born and raised in Thailand, you cannot assume the same pension as in the Netherlands or Belgium (don't know whether it is just as good or bad there as in the Netherlands).
You have to take care of your old age provision yourself "if you can already do that from 350 Baht per day" or you must, like many, have been born in a nest where the bed has already been made.
When I look around in Bangkok I see enough examples of both parties around the corner.
As could be read today on the NOS website, wages have not increased in the past 30 years and that will probably be the case here because the bosses who are highly respected by many "here in Thailand" prefer to keep the achieved results themselves. profits, just as happens in the Netherlands.
I myself live here for a large part of the year and I still go back to do some work and I do it with little because I do not yet have a pension or state pension and if I do get it it will of course be more than I have now so then I will go forward "if there is no hitch in the cable due to yet another cutback or other annoying rule of our government"`.
It will probably take a long time for the Thai, “the working people” to receive a decent pension.