Manufacturing investment becomes a link

From Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport to the city, there are many tall billboards along the way, including one from Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Japan, which reads "Serving Thailand and Promoting Manufacturing Development." This is not so much advertising as it is a strategic declaration that Japanese companies have taken root in Southeast Asian countries over the years.

Before going to Thailand, many friends who had worked in Southeast Asia said that they can buy almost all Chinese food seasonings in Bangkok. But when I came, I found it was not the case. In the mall supermarket in downtown Bangkok, my family and I were struggling to find some Chinese spices and had a new discovery.

In these supermarkets, there are almost all kinds of counters for Japanese goods (food, spices, dishes, cooking utensils, etc.), which are diverse and abundant, as well as various kinds of sushi and Japanese snacks that are currently sold. There is also a large-scale Japanese chain bookstore in the upscale shopping mall in downtown Bangkok. Obviously, the Japanese are frequent visitors here.

Asked a friend who works in the Chamber of Commerce, I know that there are already more than 50,000 Japanese working in Thailand. Most of them are corporate executives and technicians. According to statistics, Japan has a total of 1,313 Japanese corporate members in the Thai Chamber of Commerce.

Last spring, when Japan was hit by the news of the earthquake and tsunami, the next day I saw Thai people take to the streets and volunteered for the Japanese. According to statistics, Thailand’s donations to Japan exceeded 600 million baht (about 20 million U.S. dollars), and most of it came from the private sector.

A Thai columnist said that when the Thai economy and the Japanese economy are so closely linked, the Japanese disaster is a disaster in Thailand. It is not difficult to understand the meaning of this sentence as long as you look at a Japanese car, motorcycle shop, and maintenance shop that is connected to a family in Southeast Asia.

A survey in Japan shows that ASEAN has replaced China as the first choice for Japanese companies to establish overseas production bases, and Thailand is the most important production site for Japanese automobile companies in the world. Japanese automakers have invested 70%-80% of the total investment in the Thai automotive industry. In February of this year, Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan also announced a $200 million investment plan to consolidate its position in Thailand's auto manufacturing industry.

Southeast Asia is Japan's largest postwar investment, longest operating time, and the most influential region. It has also been an important raw material supply and commodity sales market for the Japanese economy. Since the mid-1950s, Japan began to establish a market in Southeast Asia through war compensation. In the 1970s, it also experienced serious trade deficits with the Southeast Asian countries caused by foreign trade, leading to trade frictions.

Since the 1980s, Japanese manufacturing has begun to shift outward. Japan has adopted the "economic cooperation strategy" of development assistance, investment, and trade. Its focus is to help countries such as Thailand to upgrade the labor force and technology level of manufacturing industries, establish production bases, and expand sales markets, thus contributing to Japanese manufacturers. Rooting, flowering, and fruiting in countries such as Thailand.

The investment in manufacturing has become a solid link linking Japan and Southeast Asia. Japanese manufacturing investment in these countries has created stable employment opportunities, increased the income of ordinary workers, improved their technological level, and helped these countries gradually build a manufacturing-based economy. In recent years, the rapid economic development in Thailand and other countries can be said to have a bearing on the expansion and improvement of the manufacturing industry.

Of course, this close interaction between Japan and Southeast Asia in the manufacturing industry has also been transformed into an important factor in enhancing the image of Japan.