BangkokPost-Oct 21
With domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc’s next phase of “going global” and the complex, challenging international environment its companies have chosen to enter. A subtle shift is taking place among Chinese businesses as they adopt a “China plus one” outlook and redirect domestic investments to neighboring economies – a strategy largely designed as a hedge against tariffs and geopolitical risks. Vietnam, popular for much of this period, is beginning to lose some favor as firms look to Thailand as another alternative destination. The latter country has gained the edge on its competitor in the post-trade war 2.0 era, attracting billions of US dollars in outlays last year. But the influx has also made Bangkok more mindful of risks, particularly those related to US measures intended to limit Chinese transshipment.
“Thailand is hailed as a new poster child of the ‘China plus one’ strategy of the new era,” said Donald Low, professor of public policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
As tech-intensive Chinese manufacturers flock there while the sun sets on export re-routing via Vietnam, the Land of Smiles may gain further ground over its neighbor. “Thailand has a reasonably mature, sophisticated manufacturing base that is more advanced than Vietnam’s,” Low said. In 2025, Thailand attracted US$5.33 billion in Chinese investment, compared with Vietnam’s $2.46 billion, according to data from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Thailand’s location and established industrial infrastructure have allowed China-funded factories to plug straight into supply chains that are being extended from China to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Low said. Thailand has also entered the top four recipients of Chinese foreign direct investment in Asean, alongside Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Read more at:
https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/investment/3340960/poster-child-why-more-chinese-firms-have-thailand-in-their-expansion-plans?tbref=hp.
