Sino-Vietnamese border town bustling with trade
Along the several thousand kilometers of the
Sino-Vietnamese border, Dongxing city, a 400-year-old
treaty port, stands out as one of the busiest trade ports in
southwest China.
Cargo ships from the two countries berth on docks of the
city's boundary river of Beilun, exchanging goods including
textiles, household appliances, daily necessities, seafood
and rubber products.
At the same time, high-pitched bargaining can be heard in
many accents of both Vietnamese and Chinese.
The number of tourists to and from China across the
Beilun Bridge can reach up to 5,000 a day.
Within the city proper, vehicles and people are bustling on
streets both new and a century old.
"Thanks to the friendly neighboring relationship with
bordering nations, the economy of border lands in
southwest China has bottomed out and is becoming
increasingly brisker," Li Hong, an expert with Guangxi
University on the study of Southeast Asia, said.
One citizen, Peng Min, remembers well that in 1979, the
city had only three streets whose combined area was
merely 0.8 square kilometers.
"But now, there are more than 60 streets, and the city
proper's size has multiplied by as much as six times," Peng
said.
Since Sino-Vietnamese border trade officially began in
1990, nearly 40 percent of the city's revenue was
generated by border trades whose total volume has
reached 6.429 billion yuan (about 774.6 million US
dollars).
Besides, the thriving border trade also attracted investors
and traders from more developed regions such as
Guangdong, Zhejiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Nguyen Thi Hong, a businesswoman from Vietnam, said,
"China's industrial products, from motorcycles to porcelain
cups, are welcomed by the Vietnamese. Some of them
even have been transported to Cambodia."
"As border trading transactions can now be settled with
banks on both sides, the inconvenience formerly incurred
by carrying large stacks of cash has been avoided," she
said.
According to city Mayor Li Guidong, Dongxing has
maintained an annual growth rate of 19 percent in its gross
domestic product (GDP) since 1996.
Last year, the city's GDP reached 180 million US dollars
and some 500,000 Chinese have been found going
through the port to Ha Long Vihn of Vietnam for
sightseeing, a number nearly five times more than the
whole population of Dongxing.
Available statistics show that the city has 1,100 industrial
and commercial enterprises now, of which 26 are joint
ventures specializing in real estate, tourism, processing
and border trades.
After China and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) proposed the Free Trade Area
agreement last November, two new land boundary markers
were set up separately in Dongxing city and the
neighboring Maojie of Vietnam.
Being the only city in southern China sharing both land
and sea borders with an ASEAN member, Dongxing has
become the most convenient land and sea port in
southeast Asia.
So far, the regional government of Guangxi has invested a
total of 2.07 billion yuan (about 249 million US dollars) on
the city's infrastructure construction.
"Under the West Development Strategy, the border lands
in southwest China stand as a bridge to further boost the
cultural and economic exchanges between China and
ASEAN countries, and these lands can anticipate a golden
future," Li Hong said.
People's Daily - September 27, 2002.
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