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Message
from the Chamber’s President |
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FOR MEMBERS:
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Over
these 25 years there have been many heroes of the chamber, men and women who
have given their services voluntarily to this non-government and non-profit
association of companies and business people with the purpose of opening and
strengthening economic linkages between Australia and the People’s Republic
of China. I salute them all. In
particular I make mention of the Liu family. Billy Liu, now remembered as
William J. Liu OBE, and immortalised in the chamber scrolls, as the
Foundation Governor until his passing in 1983 at 91 years. By tradition successor governors have been
the respective Lord Mayors of Sydney.
His son Bo Liu, OAM who was a Deputy Governor during 1984/89 and
subsequently on retirement from business Chairman of the ACCCI Cultural
Committee until 1995, is very fondly remembered. Finally grandson Richard Liu, a foundation Vice President in
1976 and very strong supporter of chamber activities over the last 25 years,
is carrying on the tradition of service.
Bo received the Chamber’s highest honour, Life Governorship, in 1993,
as did Richard in 1999. At this
point I would also make mention and thank the many Chinese Consuls General
posted to Sydney who have acted as Patron of ACCCI during these years. Their advice on, and understanding of, the
political and cultural differences between a civilization such as China with
more than 5000 years of continuous history and a population of well over a
billion people and a relatively new nation like Australia with barely 200
years and less then 20 million, has contributed significantly to the work of
ACCCI and therefore the broadening and deepening of the relationship between
the two countries in trade, investment and other economic areas. Vision
has always been the strength of the chamber.
From the start under the strong leadership of Foundation President
Darcy Carter OAM, supported by Senior Vice President Roy Dissmeyer, from 1976
to mid-1989 chamber provided the principle leadership role throughout
Australia by launching ACCCI organisations in all other States during the
years 1978/82, pushing hard for the establishment of the Federal Government’s
Australia China Council, and Sister State and Sister City relationships such
as NSW/Guangdong and Sydney/Guangzhou. In fact
so many currently accepted aspects of the Australia China relationship like
the cultural Chinese Gardens in Sydney or the introduction of dragon boat
racing and then the Sydney International Dragon Boat Festivals in 1984 can be
traced back to the minutes of the Chamber and the companies of executive
members during the 1980s. Darcy was
appointed the first Life Governor in 1989, and became Chair of the Life
Governors - the ACCCI High Court, in the years 1991/96 on the granting of
this honour to Roy Dissmeyer, Reg Torrington and Greg Burns in 1991, Bo Liu,
Laurie Smith and Harry Pang in 1993, King Fong OAM in 1997 and Richard Liu in
1999. The
Chamber has always sought to act as a innovator by developing ideas,
generating action and passing over to better funded organisations – hoping of
course that the momentum would be maintained which unfortunately has not
always been the case in our world where if there is not a price tag on
something then it is worthless! During
the mid and late 1980s a new leadership group emerged with Reg Torrington,
Vice President 1987/89, President 1989, Senior Vice President 1989/91, Deputy
Chair Life Governors 1991/96 and Chair Life Governors 1996/2001; Greg Burns,
Chief Representative ACT 1987/96 and Deputy Chair Life Governors 1996/2001;
and Laurie Smith, Secretary Dragon Boats Australia 1987/96, Chair Achiever of
the Year Committee 1988/91, General Secretary ACCCI 1989/91, Senior Vice
President 1991/96 and a Life Governor from late 1993 until his sudden death
in March 1997. ACCCI
established two Awards during this decade, namely: v
the W.J. Liu
Cultural Prize for Chinese Studies in the Faculties of Arts, Commerce
and Economics at the University of New South Wales, first presented in 1985
and continuing every year to the last presentation in 2001. v
The Achiever of the Year Commercial Trophy to the
company judged to have made the most significant contribution to trade and
investment relations between the two countries, first awarded in 1986 and
continued for 12 uninterrupted years until its last presentation in
1997. (Unfortunately this historical
trophy and 4 other Cups and Shields were stolen after display at the
Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel in late 1998). The
1990s witnessed the growth of the chamber committee system where knowledgeable
people could be co-opted to the Trade Policy, Commercial, Public Affairs,
Cultural, National Liaison (including New Zealand under CER) and China
Liaison (including Taiwan Province) Committees, or the various project
committees run by them. The information
and expertise accumulated in this process have proved of immense value for
helping business people find and benefit from commercial opportunities in
both countries. As an
aside, the Chamber has never talked publicly about the commercial activities
of its member companies or the off the record briefings by government
officials, believing our role is to facilitate not to claim the glory or seek
the limelight. Although from time to
time we have felt compelled to take strong stands on matters of principle
such as Taiwan Province, Human Rights and Corporate Governance when these
issues affect Australia China business. A
special thank you is due to the late Laurie Smith who was a dynamic force in
the Commercial Committee and in so many ways pioneered relationships at the
personal and human level between Australian and Chinese commercial
interests. No-one can forget his
train travels throughout China, his PLA contacts in business, his spontaneous
signing of the original co-operative agreements with provinces, cities and
other economic bodies in the early 1990s, nor his many official wives and
unofficial girl friends. We will not
see the likes of Laurie again and as I said in my oration at his funeral
“China owes Laurie Smith” for what he did and suffered in the crucial years
of 1989/91. Again
the times and events began to produce new leaders. John Zerby joined the Trade Policy Committee of ACCCI in late
1992, as a result of a series of ten international affairs seminars organised
by the Centre for Applied Economic Research at UNSW that were co-sponsored by
the Chamber. Two important ones were: v
Thursday 1 August, 1991 – “Taiwan Province: An
Engine for China’s Trade and Investment? Australia’s Involvement!” – held at
the State Parliament Theatre, Macquarie Street, Sydney and featuring the
special representative of the long serving Chairman of the China Council for
the Promotion of International Trade, Mr Zheng Hongye. v
Friday 20 November, 1992 – “Business Prospects in
Northeast Asia: The Next 10 Years” – held at the Austrade Conference Room,
Castlereagh Street, Sydney, and featuring the full range of Parliamentary,
DFAT, Austrade and Corporate speakers. John
Zerby subsequently went on to chair the Trade Policy Committee in 1994/95 and
then at the end of 1996 assume the position of Senior Vice President
responsible for Trade Policy and Commercial (Commerce and Industry). Over the last five years he has been the
driving intellectual force behind Chamber’s submissions to various arms of
government and research bodies in both Australia and China on questions of
trade policy at the global, regional, national, provincial, municipal and
district levels. He also
wrote the famous ACCCI Blue (1995) and Green (1996) Books that launched the
Chamber’s Cities Strategy wherein I eventually signed 42 co-ordinated
Co-operative Agreements with seven provinces and thirty five cities in
China. (As a matter of interest these
agreements were signed with each of the three key Chinese officials namely
the CCPIT Chairman, Municipal Mayor and Party Secretary). This has
led in turn to the May 2001 announcement, as part of the NSW Government’s
Small Business Month, of Chamber’s decision to target 201 key cities in China
according to a 6 classification criteria – all of which can be found in the
appropriate section of this Website. John and his Special Advisor Frank Zhang
(ex CCPIT Representative in Australia and now a citizen) have become a
well-known double act in organising and hosting top level Chinese Provincial
and Municipal Government Trade Missions to Sydney. Since
the early 1990s the National and China Liaison Committees, working directly
out of the ACCCI Secretariat at Belrose, have sought to build and maintain
strong communication links with branches of member companies and friendly
organisations and business people throughout Australasia and Greater
China. A three level strategy has
gradually evolved namely: v
the exchange of programmes and experience between
the various Sister-State Relationship bodies such as Tasmania/Fujian,
Victoria/Jiangsu, South Australia/Shandong, Western Australia/Zhejiang, and
so on. The chamber played an important part in extending these agreements to
not only emphasise export/import and investment via joint ventures, but also
to stress firstly business information including academic research and
development by establishing long-term institutional economic relations, and
secondly public administration including social services by transfer of all
forms of management expertise. v
the concentration on the municipal strata of
Chinese government comprising about 650 cities officially but with thousands
of towns and villages fast growing as
mini commercial centres. Given the population disparities between our two
countries, of the 150 “sister-city” agreements signed to our knowledge only
about 80 survive in theory with perhaps 20 functioning to the standard
advocated by ACCCI – much to our disappointment and Australia’s lose. Chamber
has sought to work with various organisations including the Local Government
Associations and the Australian Sister City Association to rectify this
situation. v
the formulation of an Australian government
economic policy towards China viewed as a regional civilisation akin to
“Greater Europe” (Gibraltar to the Urals) and not just another nation like
Fiji in the UN. This is why ACCCI has
devoted so much time to meetings, workshops and seminars with leading Chinese
“think tanks” and research bodies and reporting the results in briefings to
DFAT in Canberra and DSRD in Sydney with unfortunately mixed responses. Chamber welcomes the Federal ALP’s call
for an Australia China Trade Treaty, which at least could bring together the
economic strands that currently exist.
However if tied into the World Bank and other international financial
institutions, the Treaty might become a Australian Co-operative Agreement
with China or National Strategy for Assistance to the Economic Development of
that “region” with momentous implications for commerce and industry in this
country once China has joined the WTO. The
other high profile powerhouse of ACCCI activity to emerge in the mid 1990s
was Marilyn Walker, accountant, tax and legal journalist, and classical music
entrepreneur. In the second half of
1994 she organised the exhibition of the Late W. J. Liu OBE Memorial Scroll
at the High Court in Canberra with the Federal Minister for Trade and the
Chinese Ambassador. In 1995 Marilyn
became Chair of the ACCCI Cultural Committee and organised a extremely
successful trade and cultural mission to Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai in
May/June. During
1996/97 Marilyn played a vital role in the re-organisation of dragon boat
racing in Australia, with trips to Adelaide, South Australia, and Wellington,
New Zealand, which has come to fruition only in the last two years with the
final consolidation of Test Match Racing between Australia, China and soon
other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
Similarly she made a very important backroom organisational
contribution to the success of the ACCCI Rugby in China project, begun in
1989 by Presidents Reg Torrington and Michael Jones and re-launched as part
of the ACCCI Cultural Programme in China at the Jean Garling Room, State
Library of New South Wales, Sydney on Monday 10 October 1994. As a result
in November 1995 I was privileged to be present in Beijing at its First Rugby
Tournament, comprising 9 teams, and to present the prizes at the official
ceremony that was attended by the Senior Australian Trade Commissioner in
China. As a matter of interest and
great pride to me I was able to present 43 gold kangaroo pins to each of the
players, reserve players, coaches, officials, referee and linesmen who
participated in the final won by the China Agricultural University. The next year in late September Chamber
was able to organise a visit to Sydney of a delegation of 8 Chinese Rugby
officials, namely the three top administrators, three principal coaches and
two leading referees. These
achievements would not have happened without Marilyn’s energetic support at
all levels. In late
1996 Marilyn Walker accepted the position of ACCCI Vice President responsible
for Public Affairs and Culture and for the last five years has represented
the chamber at hundreds of official functions in Sydney and Canberra, including
meeting the Chinese President and Vice President, plus Ambassadors, Consuls General and Chief Commercial
Representatives as well as numerous Governors and Mayors from Chinese
Provinces and Cities. She has spoken
widely on maters touching on human rights and corporate governance in the
area of public affairs, and the performing and visual arts in culture. In 2000 she was strongly supported as the
ACCCI nominee for a position on the NSW Premier’s East Asia Business Advisory
Council and is playing her usual constructive role in its deliberations. Three
highlights of Marilyn’s cultural activities readily come to mind: v
Chamber’s 20th anniversary celebration at the QVB
Ballroom on 16th September 1996, addressed by the Chinese Ambassador His
Excellency Mr Hua Junduo, for which both the Chinese Australian Opera Star
Shu-Cheen Yu and the equally renown Australian pianist Gerard Willems
performed. v
The Gala Recital by the world famous Chinese
pianist Xiang-Dong Kong at the Sydney Town Hall on the 19th September 1997 to
launch the Fred Hollows Foundation microsurgical contaract training programme
in China. v
A Night of Stars being “a magnificent night of
popular opera highlights and classical music” at the Willoughby Town Hall,
Chatswood, on 4th August 1999 which included Ding Yi, Principal Tenor Beijing
National Opera, Shu-Cheen Yu, Soprano Opera Australia, and Simon Tedeschi,
pianist – ABC Symphony Australia Young Performer of the Year. Finally
I would be very remiss if I did not mention and thank Chamber’s man in China,
John Wang who acted as our Chief Representative in Beijing for four years
during 1997/2001, and has recently accepted the very onerous position as
Chair of the ACCCI China Liaison Committee responsible for co-ordinating our
activities in the 201 target cities plus keep an eye on the Hong Kong SAR and
Taiwan Province. We don’t ask members
to do much in the Chamber!! John hosted a very important and successful visit
by me to Beijing in February 1998 and has assisted John Zerby and Marilyn Walker
as well as other member company representatives in numerous visits to
Beijing. More recently he has
travelled to distant places in China to present chamber papers at trade
related conferences and seminars. It was very gratifying for me that John
could be in Sydney for our 25th anniversary celebration and the official
launch of this Website. Once
again there are many people, and their companies, who have made
contributions, great and small, over 25 years to ACCCI objectives and I thank
them all on behalf of Presidents Carter, Torrington and myself. As for the future, please read the
material in this Website (to be updated quarterly), and simple be both amazed
at what a non-government, non-profit and voluntary bilateral organisation can
achieve, and proud that it all started in Sydney and is completely run by
Australians. Michael
C.H. Jones |
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