Shantou forging closer Southeast Asia links
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Shantou, the destination most Thais with Chinese blood can trace their roots back to, plans to leverage its ethnic identity and cultural links to boost relations with Southeast Asian nations and stage economic activities through the 21st Century Maritime
Last September the central government in Beijing gave the go-ahead for the local authority in Shantou, Guangdong province to build the Overseas Chinese Economic and Culture Cooperation Experimental Zone.
The zone covers a 480 square kilometre area over three districts and is expected to be completed within three years, according to Zhou Zhensong, director general of the Publicity Department of the Shantou Municipality.
The central government wants Shantou to develop a platform for overseas Chinese cultural exchanges and serve as a base for outbound communications, he said.
The zone will comprise centres for transnational finance, international trade and logistic as well as tourism and recreation, he said.
The focus is on nine industries including financial services, resource and energy trade, creative industries, education and medical services.
President Xi Jinping announced in 2013 a new initiative to build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to link its eastern coastal provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong to Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and Africa.
Provinces along the route are creating and positioning themselves to comply with the new strategy. Most of them set up a free-trade zone to boost economic cooperation with targeted countries.
Migrant exodus
The ancient maritime trade route from China to Southeast Asia brought millions of Chinese migrants to the region and elsewhere centuries ago. Zhou estimated that 15 million out of the 50 million overseas Chinese have their roots in Shantou.
There are as many as 2.4 million descendants of Shantou migrants in Asean countries, he said. Many of them are now millionaires and billionaires who dominate business in the region.
Through the Overseas Chinese Economic and Culture Cooperation Experimental Zone, Shantou
will set up port city associations
and promote deep integration between overseas Chinese and economic development in Shantou, he said.
“We will try to host important activities such as the China Overseas Chinese Expo and the Maritime Silk Road Forum,” Zhou said.
However the authorities in Shantou have not yet made clear the measures and incentives they will offer overseas Chinese who want to do business in the special zone.
“We are now formulating the policies, guild lines and measures on the incentives for them,” said Huang Yubin, deputy director of the Shantou Commerce Bureau.
“Basically, the incentives we can offer could be social welfare for their families as well as tax incentives for doing business,” he said.
“For example, we would provide schools for their children and
an international-standard healthcare service for their families if
they want to move their families [here] for business here,” said Huang, who is also a lawyer and economist.
Zhou said 1,330 companies with a total capital of 12. 8 billion yuan (Bt69.6 billion) had registered to do business in the zone.
Sixty-four proposed projects with a total investment value of 158.9 billion yuan materialised from a roadshow in Hong Kong in January, he said.
