by Puay Koon Chia
BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- For years, China's economic expansion has been a major contributor to progress and development in the Asia-Pacific region, supporting investment and infrastructure development as well as providing a range of spillover benefits. Since entering the Chinese market in 1979, Dow has witnessed, benefited from and contributed to the country's remarkable growth story.
After more than 40 years of development, China has now become Dow's second largest market in the world. In 2009, we opened the Shanghai Dow Center, our largest integrated R&D center outside the United States. More than 100 world-class labs are now in the center to facilitate growing needs of downstream businesses like consumer care, auto and electronics.
Today, as China navigates the next phase in its development, harnessing a plethora of exciting sustainable technologies, we see important growth opportunities across a wide variety of sectors, and in particular, electric vehicles (EVs) and circular economy solutions.
China's EV technology is undeniably leading the global transformation while displaying impressive growth both in demand and production.
China is the world's largest new energy vehicle (NEV) producer and market. Its NEV sales surged 33.8 percent year on year to top 5 million in the first three quarters of 2023.
In this rapidly growing and immensely promising market, innovative, safer, and more sustainable NEVs are becoming the focal point of major automakers' research and development efforts. From core components like batteries, motors, and electronic control systems to the complete vehicle manufacturing and sales process, China's NEV value and supply chains are developing very visibly.
In the country's Yangtze River Delta region, industrial clusters are collaborating to ensure that an NEV manufacturer can secure the necessary components within a four-hour drive. This industry-wide momentum is pushing toward higher-end products, rapid breakthroughs and integration of cutting-edge technologies, and greater collaboration and innovation across the entire automotive ecosystem.
During this transformation, we see strong partnerships across various technological fronts -- from batteries and power systems to autonomous driving, connected vehicles, and even solar-panel-equipped roofs, and remain committed to strengthening collaboration throughout the value chain.
As a material science company, we see another major opportunity in plastic recycling solutions as China's circular economy thrives.
China, one of the world's major plastic producers, is transitioning rapidly from traditional plastic usage reduction towards more sustainable approaches, particularly in terms of recycling throughout eco-friendly supply chains.
In recent years, we have witnessed the growing maturity of mechanisms for plastic recycling in China, and we see further potential from the evolving system for the comprehensive recycling and utilization of waste plastics.
Leveraging our technologies in the area, we hope to support efforts in building a waste collection, cleaning, and sorting system with our partners, as well as the redesign, recycling and reuse of waste plastics in the country.
This year marks the sixth year of Dow's active participation and involvement at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), a unique platform for businesses to showcase their latest technologies and solutions, and engage key stakeholders, customers, and partners.
Eleven of our innovative material science solutions, including some recycling solutions, will either make their world, Asia-Pacific or China debuts at the sixth CIIE. We hope to establish strategic partnerships with Chinese partners and customers, and look forward to playing our part in further accelerating a sustainable future for China.
(Editor's note: Puay Koon Chia is Asia Pacific president of Dow, a U.S. material science giant. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Xinhua News Agency.) ■
