A lot of Japanese companies have been making inquiries about investing in Cambodia. And a good number of them are companies who are considering relocating from China. This was revealed by Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone manager Hiroshi Uematsu in the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.
Uematsu claims that in his five years as manager, he has not received
as many calls, as much as three or four a week. Uematsu’s company is
expanding the 90-hectare section of the industrial park by 150 percent,
and he thinks that they will all be filled by the end of next year. He
attributes this sudden surge in interest in Cambodia to the current
territorial spat between Japan and China over a group of uninhabited
islands called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu
in China. Recent events have sparked violent protests in China that
have led to damages in Japanese property and have forced some companies
to temporarily close up or cut work hours short for the safety of
employees. According to Uematsu, almost half of the 500 Japanese
companies that have plans for possible projects with the Council for the
Development of Cambodia are manufacturers, and as much as 80 percent of
them are considering relocating from China.
Another factor for this growing interest in Cambodia might be the
improved highways to Vietnam and Thailand. This is what Kengo Katsuki
believes. Katsuki is vice president of the local subsidiary of Japanese
precision parts manufacturer Minebea Co. He says that improved land
transportation has caused countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos to
be included in the production network of other Southeast Asian nations
and have thus become quite attractive to foreign investors.
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