Dear readers

The picture shows a recent Chinese delegation visiting a garment company， one of the two operations in Myanmar， invested by DISHANG Group， a multi-business complex involving manufacturing， international trade， real estate and brand development， located in Weihai， a coastal city in Shandong province in East China.

Chinese textile overseas investment has been growing at a rate faster than its domestic growth that registered a drop by 7.2 percentage points in 2016 as against the year before， while Chinese textile investors spent over 4 billion U.S. dollars in building new manufacturing operations and other related facilities outside China during the same period， and significantly it is gaining momentum， as spurred by Chinese “BELT & ROAD Initiative”， a creative proposition to mobilize global resources by encouraging investment in infrastructure， manufacturing sectors and other trade-efficient connectivity for a win-win cooperation to drive the world economic growth. More importantly， Chinese government holds “BELT & ROAD Initiative”Summit in Beijing on May 14 - 15，2017 at a high-profile level in both public and private sectors， bringing the international cooperation in the new economic scenario into global spotlight.

In 2016， Chinese off-shore investment arrived at 170.11 billion US$ in non-financial sector， up 44.1 percent， including 31.6 billion dollars in manufacturing industry. With laborintensive attributes， garment manufacturing tends to be relocated where factors of production are competitive so as to stay physically vigorous and economically viable. In Myanmar， the labor cost goes somewhere around 130 US$ on average that covers social benefits， making it magnetic for Chinese textile players who offer 5 or 6-folds more in the pay-list here in China on a conservative calculation. But， would there be any other option for Chinese companies to keep the manufacturing well grounded in the country against low-wage attraction？

ZHAO Hong Editor-in-Chief

MAY 2017