The Problems,Opportunities And Countermeasures Of Sino-Thai Bilateral Trade

Since ancient times,China and Thailand have had bilateral trade cooperation on the basis of geographical advantages and complementarity of natural endowments factor.After China's reforming and opening up the country,bilateral trade cooperation between China and Thailand have developed rapidly.In 1975,China and Thailand established diplomatic relations,and signed a number of trade agreements such as the China-Thailand Free Trade Agreement,the Joint Economic Cooperation Commission Agreement between China and Thailand,and participation in or establishment of several trade zones such as the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and the Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Agreement.Under the background of international labor division,the total bilateral trade between the two countries has been rising and the status of both countries has been continuously improved.However,behind the rapid development of Sino-Thai trade,there are many problems that have become a resistance to further deepening of bilateral trade between the two countries.Therefore,this research paper discusses the development process of the total trade volume,and trade growth of two countries from 1992 to 201 7 in stages,from the perspectives of Sino-Thai trade scale,and trade commodities structure,and describes in detail about general situations of Sino-Thai trade development from 2000 to 201 8 in order to restore the real trade cooperation process.On this basis,this research paper has investigated the trade development potential,influencing factors,structural characteristics and trade problems between the two countries and recommends solutions based on data analysis.This research paper divided the trade development process of Sino-Thai into five stages by applying the three indicators:China and Thailand trade scale,trade growth rate,and trade balance.The first stage is from 1992 to 1995 when the trade scale is small,but high growth rate,and China has trade surplus over Thailand.Second stage is from 1995 to 2001 when the trade scale is increased,but it was threatened by Asian financial crisis in 1996.Third stage is from 2001 to 2004 when the global economic gradually recovered from Asian financial crisis,China's import-exports to Thailand continued to rise.At this period the trade growth rate recovered rapidly,China's trade deficit to Thailand was increased by the influence of zero tariff policy to some agricultural products under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area framework.The fourth stage is from 2004 to 2012,the trade between the two countries affected by global financial crisis and trade experienced fluctuated acceleration.The fifth stage is from 2012 to the present,trade fluctuation was adjusted then tended to be gradually smooth within 10%fluctuation.In order to explore the problems existing in the development of Sino-Thai trade,this paper makes a comparative analysis of the changing course of Sino-Thai trade commodity structure from 2000 to 2018,and draws the following conclusions.First,bilateral trade volume increases year by year,but it is seriously affected by political and economic factors.Second,bilateral trade status is constantly improving,but its development is not in balance.Third,the structure of import commodities between China and Thailand has changed,but there are great similarities.Fourth,the structure of import commodities is closely related to direction of industrial development of the two countries.Fifth,the development of Sino-Thai trade affects other countries' trade cooperation and prone to trade conflicts.Sixth,there are differences in political system,and culture between China and Thaiiland which affect unsmooth trade between the two countries.These problems have seriously affected the trade growth of the two countries and may cause trade friction,but the trade development between the two countries will not stagnate from these problems.The study found that Sino-Thai trade still has great potential:first,China and Thailand,both pay attention to international trade cooperation,and the two countries have signed many cooperation agreements and cooperation frameworks so-called "One Belt One Road","Thailand 4.0 project","Eastern Economic Corridor".These synergy initiatives will become the cornerstone of the bilateral trade in the future;second,the establishment and improvement of transportation and payment will become the premise of bilateral trade;Third,the innovative development of new industries and policy support will provide new ideas for Sino-Thai trade.Therefore,in order to seize the opportunity for the development of the two countries bilateral trade,and fully develop trading potential of Sino-Thai,this paper puts forward the following suggestions in view of two aspects in trade scale and trade commodity structure:increasing opportunities for infrastructure investment cooperation,speeding up bilateral infrastructure construction;creating new areas of trade cooperation,optimizing bilateral trade structure;and establishing complementary industrial chains.We should avoid vicious competition and disorderly trade,and establish"Communication and Emergency Response Mechanism"to avoid negative impact of industrial change,enhance international communication and mutual trust,alleviate trade conflicts caused by Sino-Thai trade,improve RMB pricing and settlement policy of Sino-Thai trade,and increase trade facilitation and investment confidence.