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22nd March 2002 |
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Related documents: FOR MEMBERS:
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Mr Liu Chen Lik, Distinguished
Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, On behalf of the Australia China
Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New South Wales, ACCCI, I thank the Asia
Media Centre for this opportunity to speak to you today. The Chamber has now existed for
almost 26 years and operates throughout Australia and New Zealand and the
whole of China including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and
Chinese Taipei or Taiwan Province. It is a non-government,
non-profit, voluntary association of companies and businesspersons working
collectively to develop long term economic linkages between Australia and
China. As you will see on our Chamber
Website there are now details on almost 200 Chinese cities listed according
to Province and Zone. Soon there will be about 100 Australian and New Zealand
cities listed by State and Region. Each of these cities will in the
next few years be analysed according to the four categories; v
Urban Services v
Rural Industries v
Infrastructure v
Commercial Culture In this context it is not
surprising that ACCCI was asked to make some comment on the subject “Business
Networking in the Asia Pacific Region” Hence let me make two brief
observations; Firstly, most people understand
that in the year 2002 we are all global citizens. However the implications
are still not fully understood – that is that national borders are slowly disappearing
before the onslaught of communications, transportation and other
technologies. Governmental power is slowly being eroded by international
treaty obligations such as the WTO and various Human Rights Covenants just to
mention a few. Secondly, the massive economic
power of private international business organisations is more and more
forcing media attention on the questions of both rule of law and
transparency, as well as new procedures for good governance, professional
duty of care and corporate ethical behaviour. All the disgraceful examples of
corruption and poor management that we have seen in recent years in the USA,
China and Australia is testimony to this growing global concern. How can companies, big and
small, undertake their business with the guarantee of a “level playing field”
which is another way for saying “an equal opportunity”? That is the single
most important question for any collective government decision-making in the
Asia Pacific Region. With this certainty companies
and investors will feel confident to reach out across national and regional
boundaries to pursue the new economic opportunities that are appearing in all
provinces and cities of the Asia Pacific Region including those in China. I wish the China Hi-Tech Week
great success as just one example of this process. Michael
C.H. Jones |
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