Opportunities And Advantages Of Bilateral Trade Development Between Sichuan And ASEAN

Sichuan is the three largest export country.

As one of our partners, Sichuan's import to ASEAN is also growing, and they are important trading partners.

However, the development of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN is generally lagging behind.

The establishment and improvement of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area has brought new opportunities for the development of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN.

Its initiation is of great significance to the development of Sichuan's foreign trade and economic cooperation. ASEAN is the new growth point of our province's opening cooperation.

Therefore, the issue of how to develop bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN has attracted much attention.

However, the current study is not concerned about the plight of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade development, and rarely examines the specific links between Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade development.

The proposed path or countermeasure needs to be optimized.

In view of this, based on the analysis of the backward development of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN, this paper analyzes the opportunities and advantages of China ASEAN Free Trade Area for its development, with a view to seeking an effective path for its development from this framework.

The main manifestation of the backward development of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN

(1) the scale of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN is relatively small.

Although Sichuan and ASEAN are important trading partners, bilateral trade is relatively small.

In 2014, Sichuan's total import and export volume, export volume and import volume to ASEAN were shown in Table 1.

First, as far as the total economic volume of Sichuan is concerned, the degree of dependence between Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade is relatively low.

In 2014, Sichuan's dependence on ASEAN's import and export trade was only 2.53%.

Second, compared with Sichuan's first foreign trade partner, Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade is smaller.

In 2014, Sichuan's first trading partner was the United States.

By calculation, Sichuan's total imports and exports to ASEAN, exports and imports accounted for only about 75% of Sichuan's total value in the US.

The scale of bilateral trade between Sichuan ASEAN and Sichuan United States is relatively large.

Third, on the scale of Sichuan's foreign trade, the proportion of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN is relatively small.

In 2014, Sichuan's total import and export volume, exports and imports accounted for about 17% of Sichuan's foreign trade, accounting for a relatively low proportion.

Fourth, as far as the scale of bilateral trade between China and ASEAN is concerned, the proportion of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN is very small.

In 2014, Sichuan's total imports and exports to ASEAN, exports and imports accounted for only about 2.5% of China's ASEAN, which accounted for a very low proportion.

(two) the development of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN is slowing down.

Before 2009, bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN grew rapidly.

In 2007 and 2008, the growth rate of bilateral trade volume was as high as 65.3% and 104.4% respectively. Among them, Sichuan's export growth rate to ASEAN was 59.9% and 127.5% respectively.

In 2009, due to the impact of the financial crisis, bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN declined sharply, and its growth rate was -12.6%. Sichuan's exports to ASEAN were especially serious, with a growth rate of -16.8%.

In 2010 and 2011, the bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN has achieved rapid growth, with the growth rates of 28.8% and 21.2% respectively, but Sichuan's exports to ASEAN have increased by 18.8% and 12.5% respectively.

In 2012, bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN achieved great development with a growth rate of 119.7%.

However, since 2013, bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN has dropped sharply. In 2014, its growth rate was only 2.7%, of which Sichuan's exports to ASEAN increased by -9.1%.

It can be seen that in recent years, the growth rate of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN has dropped markedly, especially the slow growth of Sichuan's export to ASEAN, and its development needs to find new ways urgently.

(three) bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN is limited.

According to the theory of the relationship between foreign trade and economic growth, the static and dynamic interests of foreign trade can promote economic growth.

In terms of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade, it is calculated that in 2014, the contribution rate of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade to Sichuan GDP was -4.31%, and the pulling rate was -0.37%.

Both are negative, indicating that Sichuan's net export growth to ASEAN is negative. Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade has little effect on Sichuan's economic growth and needs further development.

(four) Sichuan's trade competitiveness with ASEAN is weak.

Trade competitiveness is the core factor of trade development in a country or region, and the competitiveness of trade is the main manifestation of the level of trade development in a country or region.

Trade competitiveness can be measured by the trade competitiveness index (TC).

The index refers to the ratio of the import and export balance of a country or region to its total import and export volume.

Its value range is -1 less than TC or less than 1.

If -1 is less than TC<0, it indicates that a country or region is not competitive.

If TC=0 indicates that the trade competitiveness of a country or region is close to the regional average level.

If 0

From the above point of view, bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN is lagging behind. It is urgent to seek new development opportunities to promote its growth and expand its scale, thereby enhancing its position in Sichuan's foreign trade and China ASEAN bilateral trade, increasing its contribution to Sichuan's economic growth and enhancing its competitiveness.

The establishment of the China ASEAN Free Trade Zone provides a new opportunity for the development of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN.

{page_break}

Opportunities and advantages of bilateral trade development between Sichuan and ASEAN

(1) expansion of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade market

China ASEAN free trade area is the largest population free trade area in the world and the third largest free trade area in the global economy.

Under the framework of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, bilateral trade markets between Sichuan and ASEAN have expanded unprecedentedly.

On the one hand, for Sichuan, the establishment of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area has been the establishment of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade zone in Sichuan.

Sichuan thus owns ASEAN, a large market covering 10 countries, involving 4 million 480 thousand square kilometers of land, 618 million people, and 2 trillion US dollars GDP.

On the other hand, for ASEAN, the completion of the China ASEAN Free Trade Zone means that ASEAN has the entire Chinese market, including Sichuan.

The bilateral trade market has expanded accordingly.

The expansion of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade market will help to expand the scale of bilateral trade, resulting in the "market expansion effect", thus achieving the great development of bilateral trade.

(two) elimination of bilateral trade barriers between Sichuan and ASEAN

Reasonable

The tax rate has positive significance for a country or a region's fiscal revenue, industrial structure, income distribution, economic growth and other factors, and preferential tariff rates can promote trade growth between the donor countries and the beneficiary countries.

According to the China ASEAN comprehensive economic cooperation framework agreement, one of the goals of the China ASEAN free trade area is to promote trade in goods and services and gradually liberate trade in goods and services.

And its implementation path is to take steps step by step to eliminate bilateral trade barriers.

The first is to eliminate bilateral tariff barriers.

According to the agreement on trade in goods signed by the two sides, tariffs on normal products between China and the 6 ASEAN countries, tariffs on normal products from 4 new member states of Vietnam and Burma, and tariffs on two normal products of all Member States fell to zero in 2010, 2015 and 2018 respectively.

At that time, the China ASEAN Free Trade Area will fully realize the zero tariff of intra regional trade and eliminate the tariff barriers of bilateral trade.

Secondly, China ASEAN Free Trade Area will gradually eliminate quantitative restrictions and non-tariff barriers.

In this way, under the framework of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, bilateral trade development between Sichuan and ASEAN will also be helped by trade liberalization, so as to achieve the "trade creation effect".

(three) upgrading of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral regional advantages

Sichuan and ASEAN have special location relations.

Sichuan is located in the hinterland of Southwest China. It borders Chongqing, South, Yunnan, Guizhou, West and Tibet, North and Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai provinces. It connects the northwest region to the north. It is the main channel for ASEAN to enter China's inland area through Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou. It is also a way for China to enter the ASEAN from the southwest and a bridge and link between China's West and ASEAN.

ASEAN is located in the South and southwest of China, and borders on Southwest China.

Southwest China is linked to the sea area of Southeast Asian countries.

In this way, Sichuan can enter ASEAN directly from the southwest, without having to bypass the South China Sea.

With the establishment of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, the special location relationship between Sichuan and ASEAN has gradually emerged.

Under the framework of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, Sichuan, as a bridge and link between China's West and ASEAN, has become a trading partner that ASEAN must pay close attention to. ASEAN, as the most recent international big market from Sichuan, is bound to become a priority trade target of Sichuan by boosting zero tariff and other factors.

Bilateral location advantages have been significantly improved.

The Sichuan ASEAN trade through Southwest China can shorten the distance and time of bilateral trade, reduce pportation costs and reduce operational risks.

According to the investigation, the development of land and water intermodal pport between Southwest China and Southeast Asian countries can shorten the distance of more than 3000 kilometers, and the freight rate can be reduced by 60%, and the running time can be reduced by more than half.

(four) increase in bilateral cooperation opportunities between Sichuan and ASEAN

Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade cooperation has a long history.

Long before China put forward the idea of establishing a China ASEAN Free Trade Zone (2000), bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN amounted to US $176 million.

At present, bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN has already reached a certain scale. In 2013 and 2014, the total volume of bilateral trade has exceeded 10 billion US dollars, second only to the trade scale between Sichuan and the United States.

With the establishment and development of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, bilateral economic and trade cooperation will be more frequent, cooperation areas will expand, cooperation opportunities will increase, and cooperation amount will increase.

According to the framework agreement, the first goal of the China ASEAN free trade area is to strengthen and enhance economic, trade and investment cooperation among the contracting parties. The two sides will strengthen cooperation in five priority areas, including agriculture, information and communication technology, human resources development, and expand to areas such as banking, finance, tourism, industrial cooperation, pportation, telecommunications, intellectual property rights, small and medium-sized enterprises and other fields. Measures to enhance cooperation include promoting and facilitating trade in goods, services and investment, enhancing the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, promoting e-commerce, capacity building, and technology pfer.

In this way, under the framework of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, Sichuan has gained more opportunities for economic and trade cooperation with ASEAN countries, bilateral economic and trade cooperation will be more closely linked, thus promoting the great development of bilateral trade.

(five) enhancement of Sichuan's industrial product advantages

Sichuan has five major economic zones, and each district has superior industries.

Specifically, the Chengdu Economic Zone features industries such as major equipment manufacturing, high-tech industries, modern service industries, tourism and so on. The South Sichuan Economic Zone is supported by energy, chemical, equipment, beverage and textile industries; Panxi strategic resources development and Innovation Experimental Zone is characterized by energy, new materials, high-quality steel products and subtropical agricultural bases; the Northeast Sichuan Economic Zone is characterized by natural gas chemical industry, agricultural products processing, special agricultural products and red tourism; and the eco economic zone in Northwest Sichuan is represented by eco-tourism, clean energy, ecological agriculture and characteristic animal husbandry.

On this basis, Sichuan has formed seven major industries, including electronic information, manufacturing equipment, beverage and food, oil and gas chemical industry, vanadium titanium steel and rare earth, energy and electric power, and automobile manufacturing.

Moreover, in Sichuan's advantageous industries and characteristic industries, agriculture, electronic information, tourism, energy and so on are the industries of preferential cooperation between China and ASEAN Free Trade Area, and the industrial advantages of Sichuan's development and ASEAN trade cooperation have been enhanced.

Under the framework of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, Sichuan's product superiority is mainly manifested in the strong complementarity of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade.

Many products exported to Sichuan are needed by ASEAN, such as mechanical and electrical products, clothing, shoes, steel, furniture, ceramics, beverages, tobacco and textiles.

Many of ASEAN's exports are also needed by Sichuan, such as minerals, rubber and products, organic chemicals, fruits and aquatic products.

Moreover, Sichuan and ASEAN still have extensive product cooperation space.

The product superiority of Sichuan's development and ASEAN trade cooperation has been strengthened.

{page_break}

The path choice of bilateral trade development between Sichuan and ASEAN

Under the framework of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade can actively build a development path based on south development, focusing on the adjustment and optimization of industrial structure, taking brand building as the core, building economic and trade cooperation zone as the bridge, and developing regional cooperation as the backing, so as to promote its rapid and balanced development so as to expand its scale and enhance its contribution and status and enhance its competitive advantage (see chart 1).

(1) expand the ASEAN trade market by focusing on the expansion of the south.

In many international regional markets, Sichuan's foreign trade development should focus on ASEAN as the main trading market, that is, the expansion of the south.

This is not only based on the existing cooperation foundation and complementary product of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade, but also based on the development opportunities provided by China ASEAN Free Trade Area.

Focusing on the development of the south, it mainly includes the expansion of the southerly market and the development of the southern pportation.

As far as the former is concerned, ASEAN is already a unified market body. The trade between Sichuan and ASEAN should extend to every corner of the country, that is, we should attach importance to developing trade cooperation relations with ASEAN countries.

At present, Sichuan has more trade contacts with Maffei, Xintai and the six countries, while the trade with Wen Laos and Cambodia is less.

Therefore, in addition to maintaining and expanding trade relations with the six countries mentioned above, we should vigorously develop trade relations with other four countries so as to promote the development of trade with ASEAN.

As far as the latter is concerned, Sichuan's current focus is to take an active part in the Pan Asian railway construction activities, and strive to build a trade and pportation system from Sichuan to Southeast Asia, and then through South Asia to Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

(two) develop the flagship industry on the basis of industrial restructuring and optimization.

Foreign trade and industrial structure interact and promote each other.

Among them, the adjustment of industrial structure and its high level are the key to the steady growth of foreign trade.

Therefore, the development of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN should be based on the readjustment and optimization of industrial structure.

The adjustment of industrial structure should be guided by the structure of foreign trade commodities in Sichuan.

According to the foregoing, the main commodities exported by Sichuan to ASEAN are mostly products of their dominant industries and products of other advantageous industries in various economic zones.

Therefore, Sichuan should continue to develop its existing advantageous industries and products, and develop a number of major export industries, especially those with complementary and preferential cooperation with ASEAN, such as mechanical and electrical products, agriculture, information and communication technology, based on other supporting industries in various economic zones.

Not only that, Sichuan can also excavate a number of special industries which are relatively small in volume but belong to China ASEAN trade cooperation area and have great potential for development, such as tourism, pportation, telecommunications, metal products, Shu brocade, Chinese herbal medicines and so on, so as to increase the types of goods exported to ASEAN and promote the growth of bilateral trade.

In this way, Sichuan will gradually form an industrial structure with the advantage industry as the leader, the main industry as the support, and the characteristic industry as the follow-up force to consolidate the industrial foundation for the development of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade.

(three) promote the upgrading of Sichuan's export products with brand building as the core.

The development of products must take the road of brand.

Brand building is the core of bilateral trade development between Sichuan and ASEAN.

Sichuan has many advantageous industries and special products, but it is inevitable to maintain and expand its market share in ASEAN, and the core of brand building.

Sichuan's brand building should take market positioning and product positioning as the guidance, product characteristics as the concept, product quality as the foundation, marketing strategy as the path, brand management as the means, enterprise image as the backing, and brand extension as the potential.

All the advantageous industries and characteristic products in Sichuan, especially the products in the cooperation area of China ASEAN Free Trade Area, can take the road of "creating brand" and "tree brand".

At present, many advantageous industries and characteristic products in Sichuan already have more competitive brands, but more industries and products need to upgrade their brands or even create brands.

We must strive for every product to establish its own brand, and strive for every brand to have strong competitiveness, so as to achieve the overall upgrading of Sichuan ASEAN bilateral trade products, so as to maintain and expand more market share.

(four) increase trade cooperation opportunities with ASEAN as a link in the construction of economic and trade cooperation zones.

The economic and trade cooperation zone has preferential policies, perfect infrastructure, sufficient production factors and abundant information flows. It has the scale effect, industrial agglomeration effect and strong ability to resist risks. It is an effective way to achieve mutually beneficial and win-win results for both sides of the trade.

The construction and development of the economic and trade cooperation zone is an important link to strengthen bilateral trade relations.

Under the framework of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area, Sichuan should take the opportunity of increasing opportunities for cooperation with ASEAN and take the opportunity of "economic cooperation" as an opportunity to "go out" and carry out extensive economic and trade cooperation activities with ASEAN countries.

We can try to establish economic and trade cooperation zones in major ASEAN countries such as industrial parks, logistics parks and industrial new towns. They can cooperate with other provinces to establish various economic and trade cooperation zones in ASEAN countries. They can participate in the activities of other developed provinces in establishing ASEAN Economic and trade cooperation zones in ASEAN countries.

The industrial area of the economic and trade cooperation zone is dominated by Sichuan's advantages or characteristic industries, complementary industries with ASEAN and China ASEAN free trade area cooperation.

In this way, based on the advantages, characteristics, complementarity and cooperation industries, Sichuan can strengthen trade ties with the countries in which the economic and trade cooperation zone is located, so as to promote the development of bilateral trade.

(five) to strengthen trade ties between Sichuan and ASEAN by taking the exhibition as a bridge.

Exhibition is a window and bridge for mutual understanding between trade partners.

Under the framework of the China ASEAN Free Trade Area, Sichuan should develop a bilateral trade relationship with ASEAN by taking the exhibition as a bridge.

Various types of international exhibition activities should be held to introduce trade partners.

At present, the Western Fair has become an important bridge for Sichuan to develop trade relations with ASEAN.

Sichuan can also organize more rich and varied trade exhibitions, especially trade exhibitions with advantages or distinctive industries and complementary or cooperative industries with ASEAN to strengthen trade ties with ASEAN.

Large and influential exhibitions should be held regularly.

If the Expo is held once a year, it will be held on a regular basis with far-reaching implications.

In addition to holding exhibitions, Sichuan has to "go out", participate in various international exhibitions, and introduce itself to trade partners.

It is necessary not only to participate in various international exhibitions held in China, but also to participate in exhibitions organized by ASEAN countries in order to strengthen ties with trade partners.

(six) strengthening the trade strength of Sichuan with regional cooperation as a backing

Regional cooperation helps Sichuan to enhance its trade strength with the aid of various regional economies.

First, we need to cooperate with Tibet.

Tibet is bordering on Sichuan and is newly bordered by Tibet. The four provinces belong to the western region.

Tibet is rich in new natural resources, but its geographical location and terrain characteristics are special, and traffic is relatively inconvenient.

Sichuan's cooperation with the three provinces can pform the three provinces into a resource rear area for their foreign trade development, and build themselves into three major provinces, namely, the logistics pfer station for the development of foreign trade and the front of product processing.

The two is to cooperate with Gan Shan.

At present, Gansu's Lanzhou and Shaanxi's Xi'an have been integrated into the "one belt and one road".

Sichuan's cooperation with the two provinces is conducive to enhancing the strength of foreign trade through the opportunity of participating in the "one belt and one road" construction.

The three is to cooperate with Chongqing, Hubei, Anhui, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Fujian and Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

This is mainly due to the Chengdu Chongqing Economic Zone, the Yangtze River economic belt and the Pan Pearl River Delta region.

With the help of the three regional economies, Sichuan is linked to most provinces in Central China, the Yangtze River Delta in the East and the Pearl River Delta in the south, thus contributing to enhancing trade power and increasing trade opportunities.

The four is to cooperate with Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi.

Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou are the only way for Sichuan ASEAN to trade from land to sea.

Sichuan's cooperation with the three provinces is conducive to the smooth flow of bilateral trade between Sichuan and ASEAN.

In this way, with the backing of a huge regional cooperation network, ASEAN is no longer a simple Chinese inland province, but an important economy closely related to many provinces in eastern, central and Western China, and Sichuan's foreign trade strength can be significantly improved.