Mission Unlocks China Market
BEIJING, China -- If Gov. Kathleen Sebelius can win friends and influence businesses in China this week, it could lead to more jobs and investment for Kansas.
Sebelius and a delegation of about 45 Kansas officials and business leaders arrived in China on Saturday. They want to build on a Kansas-China trade relationship that has developed over 25 years but is expanding quickly as China becomes a focus of global trade.
Delegates are recovering from jet lag for one day before they begin a one-week whirlwind that takes them through Beijing, Henan province and Shanghai.
The mission's goal is to strengthen business ties between Kansas and a nation that's becoming an increasingly important business partner. Highlighting the trip is the official opening of a Kansas trade office in Beijing.
But much of the time will be spent meeting with Chinese government and business leaders, learning about opportunities and making new contacts.
Business in China is built on relationships, said John Watson, the point man in China for the Kansas Commerce Department. And if Kansas wants to play, it needs to show up.
"We've had to be patient, but we have a great opportunity right now," he said.
The Kansas visit reciprocates an earlier visit this year by Chinese officials from Henan in July. Henan and Kansas have had a sister-state relationship since 1981, two years after the United States established full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. Beijing is China's capital; Shanghai is mainland China's business hub.
This isn't Kansas' first governor-led China trip. Gov. John Carlin first led a delegation in 1979. Watson, then in his late 20s, was on that trip.
Back then, laying the ground for trade was rocky. Simply getting visas was a headache, and while China always held great trade potential, actual business was low -- lower, in fact, than Kansas' trade with Belgium, South Africa and other nations deemed of little global importance.
Those days are rapidly changing. China rocketed from being Kansas' 14th-largest trading partner in 1999 to fourth last year. For Watson, who has handled China trade with Kansas since the Carlin trip, the growth justifies the work.
But the real work may only be starting.
"There's a natural symmetry of trade interests between Kansas and China," Watson said. China's rapid shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy has opened up opportunities for wheat sales, and the country's growing business elite could encourage sales of small aircraft.
Taking advantage of those interests requires interaction, Watson said. Competition for the China market is keen -- different state and business groups are regularly making pilgrimages to Beijing, and Kansas has to make itself stand out.
Pieter Bottelier, a global trade expert and professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, said the only way to do that is through face time with Chinese leaders in business and in the government, which still controls much of China's economy.
"In Asian business culture you don't do a lot of business up front," he said. "You get to know people first, then you get to business later. You build relationships."
Bottelier said Kansas business leaders making the trip shouldn't expect major agreements or contracts to come out of it right away. But making the trip is the right thing to do, given the direction of the global economy.
Whether it's something positive for the state, such as increased sales abroad or new investment, or attempts to deal with potential negatives such as outsourced jobs, it's important for governments and businesses at all levels to understand and cultivate China, he said.
The country is an emerging global powerhouse, and it isn't going away, Bottelier said. How Kansas handles China's rise will play a key role in the state's future.
"In a globalizing world you have to accept the need for constant adjustment," he said. "The world will never be the same again because of China."
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