Thailand: Continues to believe in Chinese investment, new PM to Beijing.

China's investment in Thailand continues to increase this year despite a slowing economy in the Asian giant. It's a welcome boost for the country's new prime minister, who arrived in Beijing this week to strengthen ties with its biggest trading partner.

The fragile recovery of the world's second-largest economy is spooking financial markets in 2023 as investors worry about its impact on global growth. Still, Thailand has managed to maintain its appeal as an important investment center, including for growth-hungry Chinese companies.

From January to August, Thailand received foreign investment applications worth 365.2 billion baht ($10.1 billion), up 73 percent from the same period last year. Leading the way are Chinese companies, which have invested 90.3 billion baht, nearly triple the amount from a year ago, according to the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI).

Investment commitments from second-place Singapore also largely consist of companies originally owned by China, said BOI secretary-general Narit Terdsteerasukdi.

"If you look at the month-on-month statistics, China's investment is still growing," he told Reuters. "So I can see that China's investment in Thailand will grow rapidly in the next two or three years.

Data from the Central Bank show that net foreign direct investment into Thailand from China rose 56 percent to 25.1 billion baht in the first half of this year.

This surge in investment into Thailand comes at a time of growing fears of an economic slowdown in China and is a sudden relief for Prime Minister Sretta Thavisin, who promised to turn around the economy of Southeast Asia's second largest region when he took office in August.

The Central Bank of Thailand expects economic growth to reach 4.4 percent in 2024, compared with a forecast of 2.8 percent for this year.

Sretta told reporters before flying out Monday that his three-day visit to Beijing, centered around a forum on China's Belt and Road Initiative, will include a discussion on electric vehicles.

The premier met with Xiaomi Corp Chief Executive Alain Lam on Tuesday as the smartphone maker works toward its goal of starting production of electric cars early next year.

"The company is looking for production capacity to continue its growth in many areas, including electric vehicles," a Thai government official said.

Chinese electric car makers, including BYD and Great Wall Motor, plan to invest in the"We are a conflict-free zone.

Thailand's largest industrial park, WHA Group, said it is not seeing a slowdown in business with Chinese companies, which will help it achieve a second consecutive year of record land sales.

"They come every week," WHA Group CEO Jariporn Jarukornsakul told Reuters. "There really are a lot of them. "

Jariporn said investment from China is likely to continue over the next two years.

"It's a golden opportunity. "

($1 = 36.31 baht)