Despite WPS row, PEZA continues to woo Chinese investors

MANILA, Philippines — Despite tensions in the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) said it continues to reach out to potential Chinese investors, adding that it is also still receiving invitations to visit the East Asian country.

“We know that it’s a cause for concern, but because we’re essentially into investment promotion, we don’t preoccupy ourselves with that. In fact our thinking is we continue on with our talking to them, reaching out to them,” PEZA director-general Tereso Panga told reporters in an interview.

“We’ve been getting Chinese delegations because that’s one way we can mitigate the impact, and the ones coming here are also industry leaders in their own right,” he added.

Panga said Chinese companies continue to look at investing in the Philippines, adding that one big-ticket investment from C&U, a Chinese company, is entering the country.

“They’re big and they just applied with us. They’re a big-ticket investment that will develop their own economic zone,” Panga said.

During the Philippine Investors’ Roadshow in Beijing, China in September, he had said that C&U would invest $150 million for its four-hectare new production facility in the Philippines.

“Although these are mostly private companies, if you take the shoes of let’s say China and you have these national companies operating in the Philippines, of course they will surely protect their own nationalities, too. So that’s how we look at it,” Panga said.

“We don’t allow ourselves to be affected unless there is a war already,” he added.

The PEZA chief said the agency has even received invitations to visit various parts of China including Xiamen and Shanghai.

Meanwhile, in the same interview, Panga said that the China Plus One policy (C+1) would be one of the strategies PEZA would be looking at to diversify the country’s sources of investments.

“The strategy of PEZA is how can we diversify our basket of eggs. It cannot be reliant on one country alone so we’re reaching out to non-traditional sources,” Panga said.

Panga said the C+1 strategy can be used to attract more Taiwanese investors to the Philippines.

“As an FDI attraction strategy, the Philippines can leverage on the C+1 policy to entice the more than 4,000 Taiwanese companies and other MNCs (multinational corporations) with manufacturing facilities in China that are looking for redundant sites in ASEAN and as part of their de-risking global value chains,” Panga said.

He explained that the C+1 policy refers to a business strategy adopted by companies, especially MNCs, to diversify their production and supply chain activities by adding an alternative manufacturing or sourcing location to China

“As such, banking on the existing Bilateral Investment Agreement and New Southbound Trade Treaty between the Philippines and Taiwan, PEZA has identified Taiwan as a priority market for outbound investment missions next year,” Panga said.

He said the agency would further strengthen its collaboration with the Department of Trade and Industry- Philippine Trade and Investment Center, Manila Economic and Cultural Office, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office and the Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce for the conduct of investment and trade promotions, in an effort to attract more direct investments from Taiwan and increase its share in the ecozone investments and exports of goods and services.

“Given Taiwan’s status as the sevnth largest economy in Asia and 20th largest in the world by purchasing power parity, certainly the Philippines will benefit from its increased economic cooperation with Taiwan,” Panga said.