Become a member Today!
Learn more about the specialized services and support that help members succeed in China.
Join Now »
This website is sponsored by:
- Home
- Publications & Media
- CCBC in the News
CCBC in the News
-
Chinese investments continue to grow in Canada
China’s investment in Canada is likely to increase at a “record” pace in the near term, building on fast expansion in recent years, the Canada China Business Council said on Wednesday.
“Investments from China will maintain fast growth this year and the near future would see a record growth speed,” Sarah Kutulakos, executive director of the CCBC, told China Daily.
A strong financial system, political stability and rich natural resources, including oil sands, iron ore and nickel, make Canada more attractive to Chinese investors, she said.
“Canada welcomes Chinese investments, especially in the industries of energy, minerals, oil sands and liquefied natural gas, as the investments create jobs and a vibrant Canadian economy and promote technology development,” she said.
Lin Ning, deputy director-general of the economic information department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that China’s investments in Canada will maintain rapid growth because the two economies share strong complements in economic structures.
China has become the second-largest trade partner of Canada and the seventh-largest source country of investment. China’s investments in Canada surpassed $20 billion in 2011, according to Lin.
China’s investments in Canada are concentrated in the fields of energy, mineral resources, agriculture, high-tech and biopharmacy. Canada’s advantages in these fields offer great cooperation opportunities for Chinese companies, according to Gary Lee, first secretary of Canada’s embassy in China.
“We see optimistic prospects for investment in the Canadian mining sectors in the long term because emerging markets, especially China have strong demand for metal and mineral products,” said Chen Xianda, vice-president and secretary-general of the China Mining Association.
Resources are not the sole goal for Chinese investors in Canada, which is also the gateway to tap the North America market with the help of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Kutulakos said.
“Canada has advanced technology in new material, new energy and high-tech, which are the key industries China plans to develop during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15).
“Cooperation between Chinese and Canadian companies can jointly explore emerging markets, including China,” she said.
China and Canada finished negotiations on the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement during Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s visit to China in February. The agreement will urge local governments to provide more support for foreign investment.
As investments in Canada increase, Chinese investors are being urged to learn how to integrate into the local business culture.
“The biggest challenge for Chinese companies in Canada is to get accustomed to mainstream values, including contributions to corporate social responsibility and public welfare,” said Kutulakos.
Iain Gayton, senior manager of the environmental services group of Hatch Ltd, a Canadian service provider in the mining, metallurgical, energy and infrastructure industries, added that the unique challenge for investing in Canada is the aboriginal communities.
-
CCBC President Peter Harder one of top Canadians influencing foreign policy
Peter Harder, president of the Canada China Business Council was named in Embassy Newspaper’s list of the top 80 Canadians influencing the countries foreign policy.
“A former deputy minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Harder knows the inside of government and senior Tories say he’s got the most direct influence out of all the bilateral business councils,” states the paper. “With the Harper government wooing China as a stronger market for Canadian natural resources, Mr. Harder’s influence isn’t set to drop.”
-
Business in China: Not cheap labour anymore
by KIM HUTCHINSON • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7TH, 2012 AT 2:44 PM • POSTED IN BUSINESS>NEWS>TECUMSEH at www.ourwindsor.ca
One of the keys to success in China is to learn to think like a local. For example, understanding the differences in cultural roles is important. Gostling’s Chinese wife once explained to him that his workers weren’t afraid of him, but of her: “In China, the boss’s wife has a lot of power. People go to the boss’s wife to get things done.”Tony Gostling, Director of Membership and Outreach at the Canada China Business Council, is a man who speaks from experience. “I lived in China for 15 years,” says Gostling, and he brought his offshore business education to Windsor on Tuesday morning at the Ciociaro Club. “It’s our first event in Windsor,” says Gostling, a Chatham native who’s now based in Toronto. He brought the seminar to Windsor partly because he knows what is in the region in terms of business. “What I want them to understand is the opportunity. Take that technology and know-how and make the same stuff” for the Chinese market. “You’ve got to look at other markets. Just because I’m in Windsor doesn’t mean that I’m married to the U.S.” One company whom Gostling says has gone about entering China the right way is Bombardier. They approached a Chinese company and asked how they could work together to strengthen both, each specializing in the types of aircraft they build best. And the Chinese market is changing: “China is not $1 a day cheap labor anymore,” says Gostling. The Chinese want to increase wages to increase spending in their own economy. “That’s why China’s costs have gone up.” But our advantage lies in our manufacturing skills and experience. “What the Chinese don’t have is the information to make a product defect-free.”
Remi-Jacques Nadeau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade presented information on business practices and funding opportunities offered by under the Investment Cooperation Program (INC). The INC shares funding with Canadian companies in several phases of expansion into new markets, up to a maximum of $500,000. “Maybe we can help you be there quicker. Maybe we can help you solve a problem,” says Nadeau. The program has been in existence since 1978, but moved to Foreign Affairs from CIDA in 2010. According to Nadeau, the idea of going to China is to participate in the enormous market, citing the population of Shanghai as 20 million people, or two-thirds of the Canadian market. And, “when you open over there, it doesn’t mean you stop producing here.”
Sean Yu, a Chinese national who’s been working in the U.S. trading commodities for the past five years, stopped by the seminar on a tour of Canada. Since Prime Minister Harper’s recent visit, he sees an opportunity to build here. “I want to find some opportunity for trading energy,” says Yu, and Windsor and other places in Canada are on his radar.
For more information on the Investment Cooperation Program, visit their website, or email inc-pci@international.gc.ca.
Left to right: Rémi-Jacques Nadeau, Program Advisor, Investment Cooperation Program, Department of Foeign Affairs and International Trade Canada; Raymond Wong, Partner – Asia Pacific, SOA Project Inc, San Jose, CA; Tracy Pringle, Director, Windsor Essex Economic Development Corp.; Tony Gostling, Director – Membership and Outreach, Canada China Business Council. PHOTO BY SANJA FRKOVIC.
-
China trade mission alters economic future: expert
Retrived from CTV at http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120212/china-trade-question-period-20120212/20120212/?hub=CalgaryHome
By John Size, CTVNews.ca
Canada is not turning its back on the United States in favour of trade with China, but rather being prudent by diversifying its economy, a trade expert says.“One thing that is absolutely certain is that at least for my lifetime and that of my son, the United States will be the number one economy for Canada,” Peter Harder told CTV’s Question Period Sunday.
“But the other new reality is that China will be number two,” the president of the Canada-China Business Council said. “The question is, ‘How big will number two be?’.”
Harder has been at the centre of government decision-making for three decades, served five prime ministers and was on this week’s trade mission to China with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Asked if the trip amounted to snubbing the Americans after U.S. President Barack Obama shut down the Keystone XL pipeline project, Harder said that’s not his perception.
“I’m hearing that we need to diversify, not turn our backs on the Americans, and diversify means finding the emerging markets, which are the growth markets and they are in Asia,” he said.
He called the trade mission a success and said it laid the groundwork for bigger deals in the future, possibly a free-trade agreement with the Asian economic giant.
It also follows up on Harper’s trip to China in 2009 that led to government ministers shuttling back and forth between the two countries looking for areas of economic co-operation.
Nearly $3 billion in agreements were inked this week between Canadian companies and China, including Bombardier, Telus Corp. and Bell Canada. Trade between the two countries hit $50 billion in 2011.
China has also invested about $16 billion in Canada’s energy sector in the last two years.
But a key deal reached on the mission was the Foreign Investment Protection Agreement that protects investors in both countries. It’s been on the table for nearly two decades, and now only requires a legal review and ratification.
“What this week represents, I think, is the harvesting of that investment as we seek to diversify and China seeks to secure its supply of resources and other technologies as it expands its domestic economy,” Harder said.
“I think both sides have sought over the last number of years to find ways of strengthening the economic relationship,” he added.
Agreements signed on the trip could be a precursor to an “economic framework” that could be used to start free-trade talks, he said.
“I think it’s actually a very positive thing,” Harder said.
“But at the end of the day, of course, it will be very complex, it will be controversial and it will take some time to negotiate, but we won’t sign anything that isn’t in Canada’s interest,” he said.
Unlike the free-trade agreement signed with the U.S. in 1980s, China is an emerging economy and there would be significant advantages to linking with Canada, he said, particularly its need for energy.
And, it’s critical Canada make trade connections outside of the U.S. and Europe because by mid-century, three of the four-largest economies in the world will be in Asia, Harder said.
He’s convinced this week’s mission will be remembered as one that provided significant opportunities for Canada and opened a window to the economy’s future.
“It shifted the conversation amongst Canadians with respect to China to a new level of engagement,’ Harder said.
“(We) really saw the opportunities of Asia as being ones we had to seize for our future.”
-
Petting the panda: Harper’s China trip showcases a gentler approach
Retrived from The Canadian Business Network at http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/70622–petting-the-panda-harper-s-china-trip-showcases-a-gentler-approach
By Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press | February 12, 2012
Petting the panda: Harper’s China trip showcases a gentler approach (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld)
CHONGQING, China – A beaming Stephen Harper petting a panda may be the signature photo of the prime minister’s four-day trip to China and also the signature symbol.
Instead of applying a harsh hand to the Sino-Canadian relationship, Harper has learned to apply a gentler touch, experts say, making his second trip to the country a success for both sides.
There’s been a complete rehabilitation of the political relationship, which can be seen even in the language used by both the Chinese and the Canadian side throughout the trip, suggested Gordon Houlden, director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta.
Both are now comfortable with the “strategic partnership” label, Houlden said, and the fact the Chinese made a point of acknowledging Harper’s majority government is a plus as the country highly values stability.
“From the Chinese the messaging – from (Chinese media) to pandas – has been consistently positive,” said Houlden in an e-mail.
Those in the room during Harper’s bilateral meetings with Chinese leaders during the trip say the atmosphere was completely different than the prime minister’s first visit in 2009.
It took him three years into his mandate to travel to China. Chinese leaders were already irritated with Harper for earlier conferring honourary Canadian citizenship to the Dalai Lama.
When he finally reached Beijing in 2009, he was chided by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for having taking too long to visit.
This time, insiders said, talks were devoid of chilly formality. And as a signal of China’s willingness to engage Canada long-term, Harper was introduced to three up-and-coming Chinese political leaders over the course of the trip.
Notable though was China’s decision not to have Harper meet with Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping who will travel to the U.S. next week to meet U.S. President Barack Obama.
Xi is slated to succeed Hu Jintao as Communist Party leader this fall, then become the nation’s president in spring 2013.
But Harper did meet with Vice Premier Li Keqiang, one of the rising stars, who is expected to succeed Wen in the upcoming transfer of power.
Li laid out a vision for Canada-China relations in a speech to a business forum, saying momentum was growing.
“There is a huge space for us to expand our economic co-operation and trade,” Li said through a translator.
The two countries need to work at “seeking common ground while shelving differences,” he said.
The remark was interpreted as a gentle dig at Canada to ease up on its remarks about human rights issues in China.
Harper insists the two must go hand in hand and Canada-China relations had reached a place where China understands that’s part of the deal when doing business with Canada.
In his keynote speech of the trip, he stressed that Canadians expect their government to uphold Canadian values in their business dealings with China and pledged to do so.
The remarks were almost identical to the keynote speech he gave during his first trip to China in 2009.
Since then, Chinese investment in Canada has boomed, now standing at $14.1 billion.
And also since then, the human rights situation in China is widely seen by observers as having deteriorated.
An 18-year-old Tibetan nun set herself on fire in western China in the latest such protest against Beijing’s handling of the vast ethnic Tibetan regions it rules, an overseas activist group said Sunday.
Beijing has also been cracking down on dissidents, handing out lengthy prison terms in what some say is a bid to thwart an Arab Spring style uprising.
When asked specifically which human rights issues he’d raised with the Chinese on this trip, Harper wouldn’t answer.
“I make it my habit when I’m in another country not to say anything publicly critical of that country,” he said.
Paul Evans, director of UBC’s Institute of Asian Research, who is finishing a book on Canada and global China, suggested Harper’s trip was a return to the 2005 Paul Martin-style of managing the country’s relationship with China.
In managing the human rights file, in forging personal relationships with leaders and setting the tone during talks, “this trip signals that he has returned to the traditional Canadian perspective,” Evans said.
“We’re in the starting blocks again after a long pause.”
It’s important to note that China itself is also different, said Howard Balloch, who was Canadian ambassador to the Asian country from 1996-2001.
“The economic structure has entirely changed,” Balloch said, pointing to the booming demand for natural resources.
Resource exports to China have quadrupled in the last five years, and Chinese firms are now major investors in Canada’s energy sector.
It’s a demand Canada is happy to feed, Harper said.
“We have abundant supplies of virtually every form of energy,” he told a business forum.
“And you know, we want to sell our energy to people who want to buy our energy. It’s that simple.”
The energy and economic focus, as well as the fact he took oil and gas CEOs along as part of his entourage suggests that Harper wants to make the energy file a showpiece of his majority mandate, said Evans.
But it needs to be a broader relationship, Evans said.
“China is not just a bilateral trading partner. It’s a country that’s now setting the terms of international politics. And Mr. Harper has handled this rather narrowly – this trip was about the commercial side,” Evans said.
And even with that, Harper missed an opportunity, said Brian Masse, the NDP’s international trade critic.
“Harper’s visit to China was a missed opportunity to promote Canadian manufacturing and level the playing field,” he said in an e-mail.
“Canada should be more than exporters of natural resources, for example, shipping our raw logs to then import a finished table from China, will not create the employment needed to sustain our quality of life.”
– with files from Canadian Press reporter Paola Loriggio
