Asian investors give Tijuana a thumbs up for business?

An official with a Japanese manufacturing trade group gave a ringing endorsement to doing business in the Mexican border city of Tijuana last week. Joji Hiraiwa, secretary of the San Diego-based Japanese Maquiladora Association, thanked local authorities for supporting his industry during tough times, when deteriorating infrastructure and public insecurity proved challenging obstacles.

"It was a headache for the maquiladora industry to travel on deteriorated streets, but things are good with the hydraulic concrete program, and we will remember this public work in the coming years," Hiraiwa said. The Japanese business leader added that investors will seek to sink more money into Tijuana.

That, from a report by Frontera NorteSur (FNS - Center for Latin American and Border Studies;

New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM), posted this month at Mexidata.info. The report continues:

Pleased with the recognition, Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos pledged to give greater support to foreign investors. Although property taxes for foreign-owned maquiladora plants have increased 200 percent, plant owners now have access to much better roads, green areas and monuments in the Otay Industrial Zone, Ramos said. According to the mayor, the maquiladora industry will be offered new properties in the Las Palmas Valley as an incentive to expand.

Investors from other Pacific Rim nations are also showing greater interest in Tijuana. A government delegation from the People's Republic of China visited Tijuana in recent days, greasing the wheels for a tour of Chinese businessmen who are expected to arrive in the border city [this] week.

Chinese attention on Tijuana is another example of the Asian giant's growing business in Mexico and Latin America. China's bilateral trade with Latin America exploded from $200 million in 1975 to $47 billion by 2005.

Given the high level of criminal violence and subsequent negative publicity which have swirled around Tijuana in the past few years, the enthusiasm of foreign investors in expanding their business dealings in the city is noteworthy.

While Tijuana is far less violent than another important border maquiladora center, Ciudad Juarez, it nonetheless continues to suffer significant spates of bloodletting — despite repeated claims from security forces that government crackdowns have largely neutralized organized criminal gangs in the city.

At least 15 men were reported slain in gangland-style incidents between Sunday, October 10, and Tuesday evening, October 12. In one incident, two headless bodies were discovered hanging from a bridge on the Tijuana-Rosarito Highway. On another road, the shaved head of a young man was found stuffed into a plastic bag. In both instances, written threats typical of narco bands were left at the scenes.

Fermin Gomez Gomez, deputy state prosecutor for organized crime, blamed the outbreak of violence on a gang conflict for control of Tijuana's retail illegal drug market.

We've covered the turbulent Maquiladora space on this blog before. Always a fascinating -- and frightening -- subject.