Industrial Parks, high speed trains, just a few of the many next century
innovations that have passed the U.S. by. We still got Detroit though.

Want China Times

Chinese businesspeople have successfully built industrial parks around the world which have attracted the government’s attention and been integrated into foreign policy making, according to the Economic Observer.

The businesses initially began setting up industrial parks abroad to reduce costs by introducing local production as a means to expand overseas markets, the paper said.

Li Zhipeng, an official at the Ministry of Commerce’s Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said Chinese companies set up an industrial trade processing park in Cuba in as early as 1998.

Home appliance maker Haier established its first overseas industrial park in southern California in 1999 and another one in Lahore, Pakistan two years later.

Today, there are over 100 industrial parks set up by Chinese companies in foreign countries, and the 16 largest of these parks contributed over 10 billion yuan (US$1.60 billion) in investment and created over 40,000 jobs as of the end of 2014, data from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce showed.

Overseas industrial parks set up prior to 2005 were mainly individual efforts made by the companies themselves, while more organized expansion began in 2006, after the Ministry of Commerce made the establishment of overseas economic cooperation zones a key task, Li added.

In 2006, Haier’s industrial park in Lahore was renamed the Haier-Ruba Economic Zone and expanded beyond home appliance manufacturers to include the auto, construction materials and textile sectors.

Hu Hai, president of Holley Group’s overseas business, said the industrial park model allows Chinese companies to join forces in their overseas expansions and helps reduce risks.

Holley’s parks in Thailand, Mexico and Egypt demonstrate how Chinese companies have become more adaptive to local cultures and incorporated into local communities, said the report.

“The first generation of parks were only aimed at meeting the demand of businesses setting up plants there,” Hu said. “The second generation of parks are not just about preparing the site, building roads and bringing in water and electricity, but also need to consider integration with local communities.”

By working with local partners, Holley is able to have more influence on the urban planning of governments in Mexico, said the report.

Industrial parks have become a model adopted by the Chinese government in its push for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21 Century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road) initiatives, said the report.

Belarus and China announced an industrial park to be built in the eastern European country in 2011, the largest economic cooperation project between the two countries. President Xi Jinping marked it as a model for Belt and Road development between China and Europe when he visited the former Soviet nation in May.

China and Russia are also working together on a Silk Road industrial park project, which will place industrial parks in the Chinese province of Shaanxi and Russian city of Skolkovo under a single managing body.