The Thai government fears that China will draw away much-needed foreign investments from the country, but Thai workers have another worry  that Chinese competition would pull local wages down further.

This shows the different reactions from government and labourers as China's economic power looms even bigger in Asia, at a time when countries are struggling to recover from export slowdowns.

China, after all, is the newest entrant to the world trade club, making it an even more attractive investment destination and a foreign investor in its own right as well.

China's rise triggers a race for much-needed investments in Asia, competition that Thai labour activists fear is driving governments and businesses to lower costs to survive Beijing's economic might.

Key among the labour rights activists' concerns is the reluctance they see among companies in the export sector to consider a wage hike for the largely female labour force.

''We have been demanding for a wage of 180 baht (US$4.13) per day from the current amount 165 baht (US$3.80 per day), but the employers refuse,'' says Somyot Truksakasemsuk, president of the Bangkok-based Democratic Labour Union Alliance.

And of late, according to Somyot, the excuse from the captains of trade in the private sector has been that China has been capturing the export market through its low-wage manufacturing sector  and Thailand cannot remain competitive with its prevailing wage scale.

''They are not willing to listen,'' he adds. ''China is their excuse.''

Women vulnerable

According to Chinese labour law, the monthly minimum wage is US$55, as against the US$91 a Thai worker receives.

Equally troubling for Junya Yimprasert, founder of the Thai Labour Campaign, are discussions involving employers in the private sector and officials at the ministry of labour to replace the daily wage rate with an hourly wage rate  but with no guaranteed work hours per day.

''The women will be vulnerable,'' says Junya, referring to the majority female workforce, or an estimated three million, in the factories that produce garment toys and electronic items for export.

''Thai employers are using the presence of China as an excuse to demand for cheap and informal labour,'' she argues. ''More women workers will then end up in the unprotected sector, working at home, and the employers will have no obligations, like social benefits, rights, for their workforce.''

Currently, women employed in the manufacturing sector are entitled to 90 days maternity leave, sick leave and compensation if dismissed under Thailand's labour protection act.

In one sense, the economic fears of the Thai government are not unfounded, given present assessments about the impact China will have on Southeast Asian economies like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Unctad report

''The new trading opportunities for China will be mainly in labour-intensive manufacturers and participation in the labour-intensive segments of the production process of high-tech manufacturers,'' states just-released study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) Monday.

''In these activities, competition among developing countries will tend to increase,'' adds the 'Trade and Development Report 2002'. ''Low wages have been an important factor in China's impressive export performance.''

China's clothing industry, for instance, has more than 6,000 enterprises, according to the report. In 1999, it registered sales worth US$22.1 billion and a profit of US$746 million.

Moreover, according to another report by the international development agency Oxfam, there are some 24 million assembly workers in China's special economic zones alone.

Unctad expects China's volume of trade to increase with more foreign direct investments (FDI) headed its way. ''After hovering around US$40 billion during the period 1996-2000, (FDI) rose to US$47 billion in 2001.''

By contrast, all the countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) managed to attract only US$8 billion in 2001.

These concerns have not been lost on China, whose vice-president Hu Jintao took pains in his trip to Southeast Asia to say that Beijing offers them lots of trade and investment opportunities as well and that it would cooperate with its neighbours.

Still, Unctad also sees countries like Thailand becoming vulnerable to China's economic might. ''China's constant growth in international trade could pose a problem for countries that have labour-intensive manufacturing,'' Unctad secretary-general Rubens Ricupero said at the launch of the report in the Thai capital.

The concerns expressed by Thai workers are ''legitimate,'' and ''coordination in the region will help avoid tensions,'' according to Yilmaz Akyuz, the report's main author.

Low numbers

However, an International Labour Organisation (ILO) expert wonders how much Thai labour rights will achieve on this front, given the country's low membership in trade unions when compared with the figures in neighbouring countries.

''There is only a small percent registered in trade unions in the private sector. About one to two percent of the employees,'' says Raghwan Raghwan of the ILO's East Asia office. ''It is much higher elsewhere, like 12 percent in Malaysia and 25 percent in Singapore.''

Even the political freedoms enjoyed by the Thais during the latter half of the 1990s did not spur interest in trade unionism, he adds. ''There has hardly been an increase in real terms.''

But activists like Junya of the Thai Labour Campaign feel they have enough numbers to make a potent political statement during the public demonstrations to be held today.

There, the predicament of Thailand's female workers attached to export-oriented manufacturers will receive top billing. ''We want to express their concerns and their uncertainty in the current economic climate,'' she says.