December '98 News and Perspectives about Business Opportunities in Asia

December 30, 1998

Dr. Sun Yat-sun, founder of the Republic of China, made a series of speeches, in the 1920's, laying out his ideas of nation building under the THREE PRINCIPLES (nationalism, democracy, and economic progress). A central question was how could a weak and poor China become strong and prosperous? Dr Sun laid out his idea: INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA. He assigned an important role to foreign capital, without which, he said, all natural resources (including manpower) could remain 'underground' for another hundred years! Dr. Sun's early insight about the critical role of FOREIGN CAPITAL in developing countries proved him to be one of the most far-sighted persons in modern Asian history.

   Taiwan started to woo foreign investments in the 1950's. As a result of its astounding success, Taiwan has shown that such an approach is both necessary and effective.

   The mirror image to this success story is the Peoples's Republic of China (PRC), which at first relied on bootstrapping itself through self-efforts. But, as is well known, those policies led a disastrous economy that only made the country poorer.

   After becoming aware that the economic model of communism could not work, the communists started, twenty years ago, the so-called REFORM AND OPENING-UP movement, which has ATTRACTED BILLIONS OF DOLLARS of capital to China. Now, the PRC is celebrating the 20th anniversary of this DEFACTO CAPITALISM POLICY. Nevertheless, at this point, there is a problem for investors in PRC: If they become concerned about the return or safety of their capital, what can they do? The answer is : VERY LITTLE!

   However, we have recently seen a trend in certain other countries that had a similar policy about capital mobility: they are liberalizing the ways in which investors can withdraw their capital. Obviously, this decrease in restriction is a decrease in risk and increases the desirability to invest in those same countries.

   We have developed more information about this trend. If interested, we will be happy to provide you with more information.

To all our readers: wishes for a prosperous 1999!

December 20, 1998

In Sept 1899, John Milton Hay, US Secretary of State, sent a message to other world powers that had vested interests in China suggesting the OPEN DOOR POLICY, which effectively gave a cover for the U.S. to join with other powers in exploiting China.

Ironically, about one hundred years later, most developing countries have voluntarily decided to open their doors with outstretched arms to welcome foreign investors. It is not likely that Mr. Hay could have anticipated that, after a century, his POLICY would be given a new life. In this age of world-scale economies, the OPEN DOOR approach is seen as almost invevitable.

ASEAN countries : Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei and Laos, met recently in Hanoi, Vietnam to announce they would grant special privileges to woo foreign investments that include:TAX HOLIDAYS, CREDIT and IMPORT DUTY EXEMPTION.

Singapore will promote an INDUSTRIAL PARK 21 PROGRAMME. On the park site, there will be emphasis on COMMUNITY CONNECTION + BALANCED USE OF LAND - COMBINING MANUFACTURE, RECREATION, HOUSING--that is, to assure a higher quality of life in the industrial park.

Taiwan has been reputed as one of the lowest risk investment areas. However, the land cost has been a prohibitive factor to investors. Taiwan authorities have now formulated a plan - TO BUY LAND AND THEN TO RENT OUT, at a reasonable price, TO SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES.

Judging from the above, it looks like the time is becoming more and more favorable for investors to enter the opened doors.

We have details and contacts for each of the above mentioned regions. If you need a guide, contact us.

December 14, 1998

About 1,000 years BC, a big change occured in human beings' moving capabilities. Nomads learned to ride horses! It gave people a much much bigger radius of movement. As a result, trade together with invasions happened on a bigger scale.

The Han Dynasty, around 120 BC, sent emissaries to the WEST as part of a territorial expansion. Traders followed the steps of those diplomats and troops. Eventually, the growwing development led to the overland transportation/communication system called SILK ROAD (because silk was a much sought-after commodity among the royals/nobles in Europe) between Asia, Europe, and even with Africa.

With the advent of railroad, autobahn, optical cable, etc, there are, now, talks about the building of a LAND BRIDGE from Lien Yun Harbor (North of Shanghai) to Rotterdam, Holland, linking about 30 countries and regions. This trans Eurasian economic blood artery will take a definite shape by 2010. The principal builders will be PRC and Japan.

There are almost uncountable opportunities here, both before and during the construction of this super, giant project, as well as after the completion of it.

We have identified target opportunities for qualified firms. Are you interested infinding out more about what your role might be in this enterprise?

Asian countries need many advanced technology/investments in agricultural produce-processing. For instance, recently a certain region produced a bumper crop of oranges that did not yield a profit to the growers, who either did not know how to improve their species, to keep them, or to process them. Therefore, it actually caused a large financial loss to the fruit growers and the local government. Do you wish to help and at the same time to make some money? Contact us:

December 7, 1998

Besides the many political theories to come out of the People's Republic of China (PRC), we can also learn some interesting economic theories from there, such as: THE BROKEN WINDOW THEORY or THE DISASTER ECONOMY

Acts of God on mainland China have inflicted untold damage to that nation. The recent floods alone have taken a toll of 3,004 casualties and caused direct economic loss of over 160+ billion RMB. The most interesting case is PI ZHOW WAN, where the Yangtze river dike broke. That name was suddenly heard all over the country and, thereby, aroused the interest of certain so-called enterpreneurs. Applications poured into the patent office of Beijing to take Pi Zhow Wan as their BRAND! What is your reaction to this kind of crazy, or at least unusual kind of thinking?

As I previously wrote in another column, CRISIS means DANGER followed by OPPORTUNITIES. We all stand in awe of the might of Nature's water and feel the utmost sympathy for the victims of the flooding. One of the best ways to help is to anticipate the rehabilitation needs of the flooded areas, which requires a large infusion of money and material that will stimulate the domestic market. This, in turn, will cause the hike of certain imports from overseas. For those interested, we have more details of the possible Chinese import growth categories.

December 1, 1998

Despite criticisms by a number of Nobel Laureates, the IMF has recently declared that their prescription of higher interest rates, stringent currency policy, plus continued opening of capital markets for the troubled Asian economies has shown good results because they have seen signs of recovery in Thailand and South Korea

Japan has earmarked 41.7 billion US$ to help Asian countries to rebuild
their industries.

Taiwan is expecting an upturn in their 1999 trade volume.

IMF has also been working with Indonesia and the Philippines.

We have put together some interesting figures and identified potential projects for prospective investers

Interested? We welcome serious inquiries.