《Singapore#39;s trade with China》.pdf

ISAS Working Paper No. 54 – Date: 16 March 2009 469A Bukit Timah Road #07-01,Tower Block, Singapore 259770 Tel: 6516 6179 / 6516 4239 Fax: 6776 7505 / 6314 5447 Email: isassec@.sg Website: .sg Singapore’s Trade with China, Japan and India: Similarities and Contrasts Dr Amitendu Palit and Sasidaran Gopalan 1 Introduction Cross-border trade within Asia as well as with the rest of the world has been instrumental behind the emergence of the Asian region as the locus of global economic activity. Within Asia, Emerging Asia, comprising the economies of China, India, Hong Kong SAR, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, has been the most prominent trade entity. The share of Emerging Asia’s trade in world trade has increased from 21 percent in 1990 to 34 percent in 2006, with Emerging Asia contributing around 40 percent of the total increase in world trade during the period.2 The composition of Emerging Asia reveals that selected East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian economies have been the main drivers of Asian trade. As a result of the robust growth in trade achieved by these economies, the share of exports from East Asia and Southeast Asia in world exports rose from 14 percent in 1990 to around 27 percent in 2006 while the share of imports increased from 15 percent to 24 percent during the same period, with the region as a whole accounting for over one-fifth of the total world trade.3 At a more disaggregated level, some Emerging Asian economies have displayed noticeably sharp accelerations in trade in recent times. These include the region’s largest economies, China and India, which recorded trade growth