Tianjin ASEAN center promotes cross-border e-commerce links

China Machinery Engineering Corp will expand its cross-border e-commerce service, following its recent cooperation agreement with Southeast Asia online marketplace Greenmart, said a senior company executive.

"We will be in charge of cross-border supply chains. In this case, including logistics, banking, and trade, selling handicrafts, spa deals and other imports through our platform," said Huang Yuequan, general manager of the company's import and export business.

The cooperation is a main project of the ASEAN Tianjin Eco-city Commercial Center, a 200 million yuan ($29.1 million) exotic cultural-experience center in northern China, which features products, lifestyle experiences and tourism of member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"China is way more developed in the e-commerce market than Southeast Asia. We hope we can lend a hand by forming this cooperation and thus bringing out a win-win situation," said Zhang Yu, chairman of the center.

Teamed up with China's biggest e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, CMEC has developed its own online-to-offline business and international e-commerce platform as part of its strategy of nurturing industry.

It has ramped up service offerings for countries along the Belt and Road Initiative－the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road－for example, by holding the Sino-Turkish e-commerce cooperation meeting.

Under the initiative, China has been more involved with Southeast Asian countries in infrastructure construction and international trade.

"Due to the deeper understanding of each other, there should be more opportunities for cooperation in the e-commerce market," said Simon Wong, president of the Sarawak Entrepreneur Association.

In April, Alibaba wrapped up the purchase of a controlling stake in online retailer Lazada for about $1 billion, to expand its platform into Southeast Asia.

Ali Research said in a report in December on China's cross-border e-commerce that the value of imports through cross-border e-commerce is expected to reach 1.5 trillion yuan ($200 billion) by 2020, which is growing at 43 percent annually.

The rising popularity of O2O services in Asia corresponds to preferential policies in China, which has selected Hangzhou, Shanghai, Tianjin and 10 other cities as the cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot areas.

To promote the industry, the Tianjin Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau came up 15 new policies to optimize its administrative management.

When asked about the next move in the cooperation, Huang said CMEC would focus on enlivening consumer demand at home and growing commodities supply outside in an innovative, sustainable way.