Laos is among China’s top ten new foreign investment destinations, according to a report on the website of the Ministry of Commerce of China.
From January to May this year the value of China’s newly signed foreign contract projects reached US$55.98 billion, up by 23.2 percent year on year.
The top ten countries and regions in terms of value of newly signed contracts with China were India, Hong Kong, Laos, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Bahamas, Malaysia, Angola, Nigeria and Algeria, with a total contract value of US$29.13 billion, accounting for 52.1 percent of the overall value of newly signed contracts, the report said.
With its high potential for energy development, mining and hydropower have been the most attractive sectors for Chinese investment in Laos.
“Mining and hydropower development are the most attractive sectors for Chinese investors and have drawn the most inquiries through our office,” said Minister Counsellor in charge of economic and commercial affairs at the Lao Embassy to China Mr Khampanh Sengthongkham.
Infrastructure development is seen as another emerging sector with potential for Chinese investment, with a high-speed rail project to link the Chinese border to Vientiane currently in the process of being finalised.
Greater engagement in the Lao mining sector in recent years by Chinese companies has helped the registered value of Lao exports to China reach more than US$246 million in the first quarter of this year, double the figure recorded in the same period last year.
Last financial year the top three items exported by Laos in terms of value were copper ore, copper and electricity, worth more than US$475 million, US$376 million, and US$288 million respectively.
Hydropower development has been growing rapidly in Laos. In 2006 the country had only 10 power plants with a total capacity of 700MW. Now it has 14 plants with a total capacity of 2,540MW and has the capacity to develop to about 26,000MW in total.
The Lao government has announced its ambitious plan to make the nation the ‘battery of Asean’ and feed the energy-hungry region.
Laos, one of the poorest countries in Asia, hopes to overcome poverty by using revenues generated by the electricity and mining sectors to fund development projects that will ensure poverty eradication by 2015 and removal from the UN list of least developed nations by 2020.
USA RSS Feed August 19, 2011 Is United States Still Number One? André de Nesnera
Photo: AFP A US flag flutters above the Statue of Liberty in New York, which has become an iconic symbol of freedom and of the United States, (File)Is the United States a power in decline?
For decades, the United States has been the number one global economic power. But during the past few years, it has faced a sluggish economy, millions of Americans out of work, a huge budget deficit and a polarized political environment. All of these factors have compelled some experts here and abroad to ask whether the United States is a powerful nation in decline.
John Bolton is former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations: “Oh I think it’s way too soon to say that. Just find another power in the world that would like to go up against us militarily and the takers are few and far between. There are other countries whose economies are expanding, but after World War II, when Europe was able to recover from the massive destruction of the war, as Japan recovered in its turn, that didn’t reduce America’s influence," he said. "It may have seen others rise in their share of the world’s total product, but the result really was that everybody in the world got wealthier.”
Experts say China is a country whose economic growth could make it a powerful player in the years ahead - and a potential rival to the United States.
Joseph Nye is a senior scholar at Harvard University: “China has had very impressive progress. It has raised several hundred million people out of poverty with its high growth rates and it is making very impressive progress. I think it is going to get closer to the United States, give the U.S. a run for its money, but I don’t see it passing the U.S,” he said.
For his part, Alan Meltzer, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University, does believe the U.S. is a declining power. He says one reason is that since the end of the Cold War, European nations have been accommodating American interests less and less because they don’t need Washington as much as they did during the Soviet threat.
And Meltzer says there is another reason for the American decline.
“The United States couldn’t solve its budget problems and a country that can’t solve its budget problems is not in a very good position to tell other people what they should do,” Meltzer stated.
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders recently reached an agreement to increase the country’s debt ceiling - but only after some acrimonious exchanges.
Nye says a polarized political climate in Washington is nothing new.
“The outside world sees a very messy political process and many people say it shows Americans in decline. But if one looks back historically, the Americans have always had a rather messy political process - the Founding Fathers had very bitter partisan politics among themselves," he explained. "I think we are going through a bad spell of polarization in politics, but we’ve been through things like that before.”
And Nye says there is also nothing new in the current discussion whether the United States is in decline. “We go through cycles like this every decade or two. After Sputnik [1957 - first satellite to be put into Earth’s orbit] we thought the Russians were 10 feet-tall. In the 1980s we thought the Japanese were 10 feet tall. Today people are claiming the Chinese are 10 feet-tall - but I think we’ll outgrow all of this,” he added.
Many experts, including Ambassador John Bolton, say in the final analysis, the role that America will play in the years ahead remains in its own hands - and that’s what a democracy is all about.