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Honeywell UOP's New Production Line for Coal-to-Chemicals Catalysts in China. (Xinhua)
By Xinhua writer Yang Shilong
NEW YORK, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) – Nearly 180 American firms have signed up for the first time China International Imports Expo (CIIE) scheduled for Nov. 5-10 in Shanghai despite the on-going tariffs between the world's two largest economies .
The event, will showcase 3,000 companies from over 130 countries and regions. Among them, the U.S. firms will cover fields such as high-end manufacturing, intelligent equipment, agricultural products, culture and sports.
"There has been a great deal of interest in understanding and expanding the market," said Surabh Gupta, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Institute for Drugs and Diseases. China-America Studies, in a recent interview with Xinhua.
CHIPS TO GINSENG
For giant U.S. companies have grown up in China for decades, their expo is an important platform to showcase their technologies and services and nab an even bigger share of the fast transformational Chinese economy.
Qualcomm, a leading global company in wireless technologies headquartered in San Diego, California, is one of the first American companies to confirm its participation at the expo.
"We hope to showcase innovative technologies and products with our Chinese partners through the CIIE, and reveal the vision and value of the new communications era," Frank Meng, Chairman of Qualcomm China, told Xinhua.
Qualcomm, which has entered the Chinese market in the 1990s, has expanded its collaboration with its local partners in areas including mobile phones, connected vehicles, Internet of Things, and integrated circuit manufacturing. It established joint innovation centers in Nanjing, Chongqing and Qingdao to empower startups and support the growth of the industrial chain.
"The development of the Chinese market offered Qualcomm unprecedented opportunities," Meng said.
China is expected to import 10 trillion U.S. dollars worth of goods and services in the next five years, according to China's Ministry of Commerce. For example, by 2025, the size of the smart logistics will exceed 1 trillion yuan (143.8 billion US dollars), according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.
Honeywell, a Fortune 100 company, which established its first franchise in Shanghai in 1935, also saw great growth opportunities in China's national agenda including innovative-driven industrial upgrading and green development.
"Through the ICIE, Honeywell will introduce a series of hi-tech connected technologies to support China's booming digital economy," said Shane Tedjarati, president of Honeywell Global High Growth Regions.
China is the largest market for Honeywell outside the United States and is also the largest contributor to Honeywell's growth, Tedjarati said, adding that the company is now "very aligned with" China's Internet Plus strategy.
For smaller U.S. companies, the CIIE plays as a window for them to explore and understand the business environment.
Horacio Licon, vice president of the Greater Houston Partnership, an economic development organization serving the Greater Houston area of Texas, is leading a team of 15 delegates to Shanghai. They represent 12 companies covering various industries such as technology, manufacturing, energy and logistics.
Ten innovative companies from Wisconsin, to be featured as part of the Foxconn Innovation Pavilion in the Expo, are to showcase the midwestern state's key industries, including its advanced freshwater technology.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin ginseng products will be on display to woo Chinese customers. There are about 1 million pounds (453,000 kg) of ginseng each year, and about 70 percent of the output to China.
ESSENTIAL MARKET
The six-day CIIE is a symbol of win-win cooperation which China has long championed in handling foreign relations, noted Robert Kuhn, a leading Chinese expert and chairman of the Kuhn Foundation, in a recent interview with Xinhua.
"To large numbers of companies, especially in technologies and new areas, it is essential for them," he said.
"China is in most areas, the world's largest market," said Kuhn.
China now has a middle income group of 400 million, which tops the world and is still fast growing.
According to the Group's Doing Business 2019: Training for Reform report released by the World Bank on Wednesday, China now ranks 46th in the global ranking, advancing more than 30 spots from last year .
The report said China is one of this year's top 10 improvers on its business environment given the authorities' continuous opening-up and economic reform.
"There are very few industries in the world where they can, and they will be able to compete in their home country, if they are not in the Chinese market, or the latest trends problems or challenges, "Kuhn added.
OPEN TRADE
For US companies doing business with China, the trade tensions between the United States and China are really "a distraction," Kuhn said.
"They're unhappy with it." "They really do not want to deal with the bigger problems of macroeconomic, political, or economic or geopolitical matter, they only want to deal with the nuts and bolts of their own business. successful, they need to be in the Chinese market, "he explained.
"Only those who are most directly affected, the hog farmers, the wheat growers, the cotton and peanut growers … All of us are just now beginning to realize that this thing is real and that it's going to impact us directly, said Randy Hudson, a pecan farmer in the leading state of Georgia.
Hudson used to sell over 20 million dollars worth of pecans to China every year before the US-China tit-for-tat tariff measures. On July 6, the United States added a 25-percent tariff on 34 billion US dollars worth of Chinese products. Beijing responded in kind, hitting U.S. products, including pecans.
"It is the hope of both manufacturers and their customers that they are short-lived," said Rose Braden, president of the US Softwood Export Council based in Portland, Oregon.
Braden's council is part of the 12-member delegation for the CIIE led by the Oregon-China Sister State Relations Council.
"Braden said," It is particularly important in the light of the current trade situation for American trade organizations and suppliers to participate in trade shows and delegations to China.
On the other hand, Kuhn said, "China is doing it (ICIE) for its own benefit and the benefit of its own industries and its own people."
"Obviously, the primary interest of (the Chinese) government is to elevate the standard of living of the people," he said, adding that inviting competitors can also force Chinese companies to elevate their game.
(Xinhua correspondents Xu Jing, Miao Zhuang in Chicago, Gao Lu, Liu liwei in Houston, Wu Xiaoling, Ye Zaiqi in San Francisco, Tan Jingjing in Los Angeles, Xia Lin, Chang Yuan, Wang Ying in New York City, Liu Yang in Washington DC, also contributed to the story.)
(Video editor: Luo Hui)
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