TRADE MISSION NOTES:

The China Opportunity for Washington

Rogers Weed, Director, Washington State Department of Commerce

09/20/10

We wrapped up the China part of our trip on Saturday with a visit to the World Expo in Shanghai. This collection of pavilions from countries around the world seeks to deepen the understanding of the Chinese people about the world around them. We were lucky enough to get “VIP Access” to the Chinese pavilion which is quite impressive (see picture) and one of only a handful of structures that will remain on the grounds after the exhibition concludes in October. Following that, we toured the USA pavilion which the University of Washington helped sponsor. As a result of their sponsorship, the institution and our state are prominently featured in a video presentation that has been shown to over five million Chinese visitors in the past five months!

After our tours, we went to the business center in the pavilion which Boeing (as a sponsor of the US pavilion) had generously made available for our use. There, the Governor made the case for Washington State to an audience of Chinese local governments, investors and companies. I also presented some facts and figures on our state economy and industry and that was followed by industry panels on the life sciences and clean energy. Many thanks to Dennis Bracy and the US-China Clean Energy Forum for organizing the event sponsorship and helping us attract a valuable crowd of potential partners and customers for the state.

A few final remarks on the China segment of our trip overall. It’s hard not to be blown away by the extent and pace of development in this country. You can look at facts and figures about the growth of the country (Asia share of world GDP went from ~7% in 2000 to ~11% in 2008, nearly tripling in the process), but seeing a city like Shanghai and realizing that most of the dozens of 25+ story buildings in the city center weren’t there ten years ago really brings home the nature of the opportunity. And while some of it will show up in the classic way we think about trade (export sales), much of it will materialize in partnerships between our Washington State companies and entrepreneurs and their Chinese counterparts. Those partnerships will drive investment and employment on both sides of the Pacific that benefit both areas.

And, while one would think that those partnerships would be based mostly on what spreadsheets say makes the most economic sense, this trip has really helped me understand that much of Chinese investment and expansion into the United States will be based on relationships and a sense of comfort with the person on the other side of the transaction. That is very good news for Washington because we have invested in those relationships for decades – I was consistently impressed with how many very senior people in the Chinese government and business community have personal experience with our state and its people. The Governor met with Vice Premier Wang Qishan in Beijing. He is one of the 5-10 most powerful people in the Chinese government and he regaled her with memories of his trips to Washington State and Mount Rainier. Those connections provide opportunities, but we have to keep investing in trips like these to convert those opportunities into prosperity for our state.