It is recommended that enterprises explore the development opportunities of the “Belt and Road Initiative”

(Source: "China Business Network" 2019-12-06)

In recent years, "black swan" events such as Brexit and the failure of Italian constitutional amendments, as well as "anti-globalization" waves, have occurred frequently in Western countries. How do you view these anti-globalization phenomena? In the current context, what development opportunities and challenges do Chinese enterprises face when "going global"? Regarding such issues, on December 5, a reporter from China Business News interviewed at the forum "New Opportunities for Chinese Enterprises in the Uncertain Era" jointly hosted by China Economic Think Tank, China Business News, and China Economic FutureProfessor Wang Zhimin, Director of the Institute of Globalization and Chinese Modernization at the w88 casino and Researcher at the National Institute of Opening up. "Economic globalization is an objective law." Wang Zhimin told reporters, "Although the problem of anti-globalization is prominent, economic globalization is an objective trend of economic development. Even if anti-globalization occurs, the institutionalization of regional economic cooperation cannot be interrupted, and it will be a new impetus to globalization. China is undoubtedly one of the biggest beneficiaries of globalization, because since China's reform and opening up, especially after joining the WTO, China's economy has achieved rapid development. At present, China's high-speed rail and other technologies have also been developed during the process of globalization. It has reached the world's leading level. And in his view, the current level of globalization is very high. If Chinese companies want to integrate into the world, the "Belt and Road" is a better development opportunity. "For this reason, he suggested that companies can choose to develop in some countries in Southeast Asia and Africa in the field of mid-range technology; and in the field of high-end technology, they can choose to go to developed countries, because there are development opportunities in these countries, including some manufacturing fields, and there is also a return phenomenon in some European and American countries, and there are many benefits in terms of taxation, land, etc. In this regard, glass king Cao Dewang is one of China’s more successful entrepreneurs in “going global”. However, Chinese companies also face some challenges when “going global”. “Chinese companies’ going global will face challenges such as political issues and imperfect laws in some foreign countries.” Wang Zhimin told reporters. Therefore, he suggested that companies should pay attention to some issues, including investment early warning mechanisms, environmental issues, corruption and power rent-seeking. There are development opportunities in the “Belt and Road” initiative. Wang Zhimin is the earliest scholar in my country to study the “Belt and Road Initiative” and has been following the “Belt and Road Initiative” issues for a long time. In his view, the “One Belt, One Road” initiative is currently encountering some problems, but the overall progress is relatively good and the overall layout is well done. Moreover, the “Belt and Road Initiative” is relatively large, and there are still many things worth summarizing and exploring in the details. We should pay more attention to the key points in the future. In this regard, Wang Zhimin believes that some areas have great development prospects. He gave an example. For example, if a Chinese company invests in a shoe factory in an industrial park in Ethiopia, the local labor cost is relatively low and the price of fur is also very cheap. By the end of 2017, Huajian became China's largest private enterprise in Ethiopia, having accumulated more than 122 million U.S. dollars in foreign exchange earnings from exports and providing employment for more than 7,500 local people. With an annual output of more than 5 million pairs of women's shoes, the company is Ethiopia's largest shoe export company, accounting for more than 65% of Ethiopia's shoe exports. A single shoe factory ranked first in Africa in attracting foreign investment in 2017. In fact, this advantage is an absolute advantage in a sense. He also gave the example of Nepal, which particularly hopes to cooperate economically with China. The annual w88 volume between Nepal and us is 1.1 billion yuan, of which 1.05 billion yuan is for our exports, while they export about 50 million yuan to us. This is very difficult to achieve. The most typical case is the joint venture between China's Tibet Civil Aviation Development Investment Co., Ltd. and Nepal's Yeti Global Investment Company to establish Himalaya Airlines. This is the largest foreign direct investment in Nepal's aviation history. Himalayan Airlines, a joint venture established by the two companies, can give full play to the tourism advantages of China's Tibet and Nepal and complement each other. The peak tourism seasons of Nepal and Tibet are exactly opposite. Nepal is located in the south of the Himalayas. Winter is the peak tourist season every year, while Tibet's alpine climate makes summer the peak tourist season. Taking advantage of seasonal differences, Himalayan Airlines can allocate aircraft to different locations according to the peak and off-seasons of the two places. It can achieve a reasonable allocation of aviation resources and maximize economic benefits. What are the benefits of Nepal Airlines and China’s Tibet Airlines cooperating to establish Himalayan Airlines? According to Wang Zhimin: "Because the summer is too hot, few tourists travel to Nepal. In winter, no one travels to Tibet. We take advantage of the seasonal differences between the two sides. Therefore, the airlines mainly operate in Tibet in summer and in Nepal in winter. Therefore, tourism has developed rapidly, and now China is the second largest entry point for Nepal."

Wang Zhimin also said that the Nepalese government regards tourism as a pillar industry and has introduced strong tax preferential policies for the tourism industry. If a general enterprise establishes a tourism company and can provide more than 100 jobs for local Nepali citizens, it will be exempted from tax by 30%; existing tourism and aviation enterprises that increase their scale by more than 25% and provide more than 500 jobs for local Nepali citizens can enjoy tax exemption for five years and a 50% tax exemption for the next three years; tourism enterprises and other enterprises that increase their production capacity and distribute bonus shares are exempt from dividend tax. However, he also admitted frankly that some countries are also facing geopolitical tests, such as India and Vietnam, which have strong dreams of being great powers. Because India and China had a border conflict in 1962 and still have territorial disputes today, the relationship between the two countries remains complex and sensitive, which has seriously affected bilateral relations. But what all countries have in common is achieving economic growth and improving people's livelihood, especially employment. Therefore, in Wang Zhimin's view, there are many development opportunities for our company, whether at home or abroad. Although the key word of the theme of this forum is "uncertainty", he believes that "there is certainty within uncertainty" and there are many development opportunities, but opportunities are reserved for companies that are prepared.

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