China, Silicon Valley Talk Business Deals
Officials from China's ancient capital of Xi'an made Fremont one of four cities visited during a U.S. tour.

Published Saturday, Aug. 18, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News BY MARIAN LIU

Fremont, California, August 18, 2001 - Officials and business owners from the ancient capital of China met with their Silicon Valley counterparts Friday at the Fremont Marriott in hopes of establishing trade partnerships.

The visitors from Xi'an apparently were successful.

By lunchtime, $40 million worth of deals between the two countries had been made, according to organizers. Eight formal contracts were signed.

"In the exploitation of the West, we have a win-win policy,'' said Zhang Longhu, assistant to the Xi'an city mayor.

Fremont is one of four stops in the United States for the Xi'an business people. In a two-week business tour, they also are scouring Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., for deals. About 250 people attended the Fremont symposium.

In 1999, Chinese President Jiang Zemin said he wanted to modernize the western part of China. The Chinese government hopes to make Xi'an, the largest city in western China, a business hot spot second only to Beijing.

For 12 dynasties, Xi'an was China's capital, where the Terra-cotta Warriors, known as the Eighth Wonder of the World, were unearthed. It is also a junction point for five railroads and nine highways.

The city of nearly 7 million people has 37 universities and colleges. Traditionally, Xi'an's largest industries have been agriculture and tourism, but in the past 28 years, it has expanded to industries such as information technology.

While Xi'an officials hope to enter a sister-city arrangement with Fremont as a way to develop high-tech industries, they acknowledge that is secondary. Xi'an already has a sister-city relationship with Kansas City.

"We want to establish a trade agreement first,'' said Wang Yi, vice president of the Xi'an Municipal Bureau of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. ``Business is first important and friendship is second.''

Many Silicon Valley companies, such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Cisco, already have offices in Xi'an.

Fremont Councilman Steve Cho also sees the two cities forging a business relationship. He said Fremont is looking into becoming a sister city with another Chinese city, Tianjin, which is near Beijing. Fremont has sister cities in Japan, India, the Philippines and Portugal.

Cho was proud that Xi'an chose Fremont as its symposium location. He said he foresees no friction between the new Chinese businesses and the many established Taiwanese businesses in Fremont.

"For money, everyone always looks the other way,'' Cho said. ``Any business is good from the U.S. standpoint.''

Milpitas Mayor Henry Manayan also attended the symposium.

Roger Edwards, an e-commerce business owner, estimated that business in China is twice as profitable for businesses such as his. He buys arts and handicrafts such as bamboo baskets and sells them to gift shops in the United States. Recently, he found potpourri-filled wine glasses in a Florida flea shop and commissioned Chinese workers to make the same product for a dramatically lower cost.

To help him make the leap to China, the Fremont company that organized the symposium, CHINAnUSA.com, performed all negotiations with Chinese companies. Edwards said he felt he needed CHINAnUSA.com because he and many other business owners find it difficult to break into China because of many cultural barriers.

"Doing business in China is very slow and methodical,'' said Richard Gomer, who sells vegetable seeds all over the world. ``You need a strong and harmonious business relationship. They must trust what you're doing.''

On the other side, Chinese business owners were eager to break barriers. Liu Gen Tang, vice minister of the National Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone in Xi'an, wanted to educate American consumers about the benefits of Chinese medicine. At the symposium, he showcased a stomach medicine, eye-infection tablets and skin-clearing pills.

" I'm hoping to find initial contacts for distribution and sales representation,'' said Liu, whose Xi'an operation has so far expanded into Singapore.

Liu is also hoping to connect with American business people who will travel to China in September to attend a symposium in Xi'an.

To further strengthen the bridge between the two cities, Guang Chao Li, a Xi'an native and Stanford University researcher, established an educational link between Xi'an and Northwestern Polytechnic University in Fremont. Chinese business people will be able to learn high-tech skills and management there.

News Source: San Jose Mercury News. Contact Marian Liu at mliu@sjmercury.com.

About CHINAnUSA.com

CHINAnUSA.com, the leader in facilitating an “evolving” international trade community with integrated online and offline solutions, was founded in June 1999 under AskE Media, Inc. Headquartered in Fremont, California, the heart of Silicon Valley, and with branch offices in Shanghai and Suzhou, China, the company mission focuses on "Connecting the supply and demand between China and USA." The company’s a complete suite of cross-border trade solutions—Marketing Solution, E-Commerce Solution, Trading Solution, and Biz-Travel Solution—are tailor-made for businesses to drive revenue with maximum efficiency and lower costs. In addition, CHINAnUSA.com commits to bringing buyers and sellers together, domestically and internationally, to achieve significant reductions in the burdens and costs associated with the complexities in international trade. For more information on CHINAnUSA.com and its products and services, please visit www.CHINAnUSA.com.