China-ASEAN Monitor

Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Economy, Investment and Trade

Monorail line to be built in Cambodia
(27 September 2017) China Sky Railway Group will operate on a 10km line in Cambodia in May 2018, according to Tang Tong, the company’s chairman. The line is designed to connect the Royal Palace and Phnom Penh International Airport to support its infrastructure, tourism and public service development, as well as the upcoming 2023 Southeast Asia Games. Tang said that building monorails are more cost-efficient in ASEAN countries due to the high level of private land ownership.
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Singapore to partner with Alipay
(25 September 2017) Ant Financial Services Group, the online payment arm of China’s e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to share relevant and up-to-date content about Singapore through Alipay’s platforms and STB’s Tourism Information and Services Hub, a digital content and distribution platform. The goal is to to increase exposure of Singapore’s offerings from various tourism businesses and to provide Chinese tourists with access to better information before and during their visits.
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Bank of China to improve retail banking business in Malaysia
(22 September 2017) Bank of China Malaysia (BoCM) launched its first mobile application in Malaysia in a bid to better develop its retail banking business in the country, and is also looking to start a new branch in the state of Melaka within the year. BoCM chief executive officer Wang Hongwei said on Thursday that Bank of China (BoC), which currently has 10 branches in Malaysia, is committed to long-term development in Malaysia. Wang made the remarks during the opening ceremony of BoC’s new branch in the state of Penang. The new branch is BoC’s first smart bank branch among Southeast Asian countries.
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Chinese tourism boom in Vietnam and Cambodia
(20 September 2017) According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam has welcomed 2.7 million Chinese visitors in the first eight months of 2017, seeing a year-on-year increase of 51.4 percent. Meanwhile, about 530,000 Chinese tourists visited Cambodia in the first half of 2017, representing an increase of 40 percent compared with the same period last year, according to a Cambodian Tourism Ministry report released in August. In 2016, Cambodia launched a “China Ready” strategy with the aim of attracting 2 million Chinese tourists annually to Cambodia by 2020.
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Foreign Affairs

Malaysia seeks China’s help to end Rohingya crisis
(27 September 2017) Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has requested China to bring an end to the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh after his meeting with Meng Jianzhu, China’s political and Legal Affairs Secretary on 26 September. He also said that the Chinese government has channeled US$10 million in food, equipment and other necessities to the Rohingya through the Bangladeshi government.
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