Issue #183: Planes, Trains & China's ASEAN Trade Meetings
Xi Jinping promotes a "Seamless Air Silk Road" between South East Asia & China
Welcome to Issue 183 of Asia Travel Re:Set.
Over the past 2 weeks, reams of well-presented data have spotlit the scope of commercial interactions between China and ASEAN nations and the US.
This is important because it helps plug a knowledge gap about international trade.
But reliable trade data is mostly annual, quarterly or monthly, ie, back-dated.
And what we saw in ASEAN this week was the trade-planning process in action.
China, the region’s power player, is leveraging its competitive advantage over the US: geography.
By personally meeting the leaders of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia - all a short-haul flight on the presidential Air China jet - Xi Jinping pushed bilateral trade and transport infrastructure projects. He thereby helped strengthen each nation’s hand in tariff negotiations with the US, and weakened their hands vis-a-vis China.
Let’s quickly recap the relevant prospective US tariff rates: Cambodia 49%, Vietnam 46% and Malaysia 24%. Those rates are highly unlikely to be imposed.
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Confirmed! I’ll be speaking at the Skift Asia Forum in Bangkok, 14-15 May, alongside executives from Accor, Booking.com, Trip.com, Klook, Agoda, AirBnB, Thai Airways, AirAsia Move, Minor International, HalalTrip, The Ascott Limited, Plaza Premium Group and Bensley. CLICK HERE for more details.
Planes, Trains & China's ASEAN Trade Meetings
“This is creating toxic uncertainty.”
Those words by Prof. Scott Galloway on his podcast on Monday reflect the structural stasis for businesses in the US, and the radiation effects across global markets.
Someone asked me this week if the uncertainty is similar to Covid. No. Asia Pacific border closures incurred immediate economic damage and long-term uncertainty.
Across APAC at the moment, uncertainty is solidifying because we know that some form of economic impact will emerge, but it is yet to crystallise.
Which, although the trip was pre-planned, explains the meeting agendas for President Xi (and his diplomacy A-Team) with leaders of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.
So, what did we learn from this week?
Generally…
South East Asian nations will need to lean further into China in the near-term to secure a) financing and tech expertise for infrastructure build-outs, supply chain investment and tourism. This represents an almost unavoidable risk.
In total, 113 Memorandums of Understanding were signed by China during the week: 45 with Vietnam, 31 with Malaysia and 37 with Cambodia.
China wants regional partners to purchase more of its trains, planes and highway engineering services.
China’s charm offensive…
“China became ASEAN's largest trading partner in 2009 and ASEAN became China's largest trading partner in 2020.”
“Total ASEAN-China trade reached RMB1.71 trillion in Q1, a 7.1% year-on-year increase, accounting for 16.6% of China's overall foreign trade.”
“Travel bookings from major mainland cities to key cities in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia “rose about 40% year-on-year” in Q1,” according to Tongcheng, a Chinese OTA.
China & Vietnam…
“Will prioritise accelerating infrastructure connection in terms of railway, expressway and border gate infrastructure.”
“Develop Vietnam-China international railway transport, restore international passenger transport, open more cross-border railway routes between Vietnam and China.” One of the projects this refers to is the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Haiphong railway, which will connect Vietnam’s capital and northeast port city with the Chinese border, but not - for now - the North-South High-Speed Railway.
“Create conditions for the extension of take-off and landing times for airlines to exploit each other's markets, and encourage airlines to restore and open more flights according to market demand. The two sides welcome Vietnamese aviation companies to put Chinese commercial aircraft into operation, and strengthen cooperation in the field of commercial aircraft manufactured in China.” This is a clear reference to COMAC passenger planes, which are now being used by VietJet on domestic routes.
China & Malaysia…
“Agreed to enhance cooperation on infrastructure connectivity, jointly implement key projects such as East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), promote rail-sea transportation and improve regional connectivity.” China is making the trains for the ECRL.
“Committed to strengthen rail transportation and infrastructure and contribute to the realisation of the Pan-Asian Railway vision.”
“Committed to strengthen the technical exchange of civil aviation expertise, enhance aviation logistics cooperation between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport, to realise the common vision of a seamless Air Silk Road between ASEAN and China.”
China & Cambodia…
“Committed to jointly formulate a general plan for Cambodia's railway network.”
“Agreed to designate 2025 as the China-Cambodia Year of Tourism and encourage their citizens to travel to each other's countries.”
Destinations On the Silver, TV & Smartphone Screen
What connects CNN, Bollywood, Minecraft, Coldplay, The White Lotus, Bluey, Netflix and Blossoms Shanghai? All are linked to the diversifying trend of representing tourism destinations across Asia Pacific in TV series, movies, videos, animations, documentaries and computer games.
On The South East Asia Travel Show, we become binge-watchers for a deep-screen dive into the top 8 TV and Movie Tourism talking points across Asia and beyond.
The journey takes us from Jakarta, Koh Samui, Angkor and Singapore to Mumbai, Hong Kong, Jeju Island and Okinawa - and beyond to the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Croatia.
↔️ How are the roles of tourism boards, travel suppliers and TV networks changing with regard to destination placement?
↔️ Why is it vital to find new funding sources for locally written, directed and produced shows that can go global?
↔️ How is social media complexifying as well as facilitating greater reach for TV, movie, gaming and tourism collaborations?
↔️ What will be the future role of micro-dramas, animations and AI in screen-time tourism?
↔️ Plus, we look at the less salubrious side of tourism on screen, such as No More Bets, The Beach, Crash Landing on You and the filming of The Expats.
Click on the live link below to listen to Destinations On Screen: The Top 8 TV + Movie Tourism Talking Points in South East Asia & Asia Pacific
Or search for The South East Asia Travel Show on any podcast app.
And, that’s a wrap for Issue 183.
Asia Travel Re:Set will be back next Sunday. Meantime, find me on LinkedIn.
Happy travels,
Gary