In early December 2022, Beijing made the surprise announcement to dismantle its COVID-Zero-Tolerance policy of frequent testing, travel curbs and mass lockdowns, which had been strictly implemented for three years. In light of this, Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) China believes there will be a revival trend of cross-border trade and an increasing demand for sustainable and healthy Pacific products. Under the new post-pandemic era, what is PTI China’s approach in supporting Pacific businesses to expand in China? We interviewed our experienced Export and Investment experts for their points of view.
Jane Ma, Investment Manager at PTI China, expressed cautious optimism upon China’s overseas direct investment trend in 2023.
“The 20th National Congress held in 2022, which aimed to set the roadmap for the development of the Communist Party of China and the country over the next five years, concluded with a clear message of upholding the national strategy of opening up the country, economic globalisation and multilateralism. Guidelines include strengthening cooperations with other developing countries and promoting quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Hence, it is anticipated that Chinese enterprises will continue investing overseas, even though more challenges are expected.”
Jane’s plan to draw more Chinese investment to the Pacific includes seeking and establishing partnerships with a professional business service organisation; conducting a market interest study of Chinese business towards Pacific countries; identifying Chinese investment-ready industries and programs; and attracting Chinese private investment to the Pacific.
Yolanda Jiang, Export Manager of PTI China, held a conservative point of view towards economic growth in the Pacific and China. According to Yolanda, the key to helping Pacific businesses is to review thoroughly current industries and resources, dig deep, and think outside the box.
“Since COVID, we’ve seen new market trends, such as Chinese people’s growing desire for pure, natural skincare products and cosmetics, health food and beverages, which provides new opportunities for Pacific businesses whose products are handmade from pure, untainted ingredients.
“With Chinese people’s growing awareness of the importance of environmental protection, which is in line with sustainable economic development of the Blue Pacific, we aim to connect environmentally friendly Pacific resources with China’s sustainability concept, for example, Pacific forestry, fishery, plantation, noni products, coffee, coconut products, etc.
“Leveraging China’s flourishing digital economy, we are also developing a mini-program on China’s leading e-commerce platform Tencent. When finished, it will be a vivid window to display China-trade-ready Pacific enterprises and products and a direct bridge to connect Chinese buyers with the 16 FIC exporters. Right now, the mini-program is at Test Version 8; the next stage is to set up an account list and page for each brand, displaying Pacific products.”
With the lifting of international travel restrictions, both managers considered 2023 a good time to organise Chinese trade delegation field trips to the Pacific, which will enable potential Chinese exporters and investors to explore the China-trade-ready programs in person.
Mona Mato, Trade Commissioner of PTI China, said: “In China, 2023 is the year of the Rabbit, which is famous for its ability of being agile and hopping across obstacles. That’s how we envision cross-border trade between the Pacific and China this year – now we have overcome the pandemic obstacle, we will continue to support our Pacific clients, strengthen business relationships and generate business leads and outcomes.”
