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Australian Consul-General, Shanghai At Asia 2003: Perspectives from Australia’s
Ambassadors A DFAT Business Breakfast Briefing,
Sydney, 19 August 2003 |
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Shanghai has been variously
described throughout history as: “the Paris of the Orient”; “China’s entrepreneurial and
intellectual capital”; “the home of China’s political
radicals”; “the cradle of communism”; “the spearhead of China’s reform
and opening”; and “the real Pearl of the Orient” -
to distinguish it from that sleepy fishing village to the south, with
apologies to those of you who have a soft spot for Hong Kong, particularly my
colleague, David O’Leary. So you can see that Shanghai has
always commanded attention - both domestically and internationally. With good reason. Shanghai is
China’s economic powerhouse. It has
China’s biggest urban population - 19 million people; and 300 million when
you include the surrounding areas. It
also has China’s highest per capita income. It accounts far 6% of GDP, 10% of
exports and 13% of financial revenue. And all this continues unabated -despite some initial concerns,
SARS has turned out to be a mere blimp on the screen, with only a mild
slowdown in overall growth expected. Since the 1842 signing of the
Treaty of Nanking, the city has been at the forefront of China’s
internationalisation. The
globalisation of Shanghai is today a national priority -- the ambition is to
become an international economic, financial, trading and transportation
centre. The city has an enormous
international business community -- 300 Fortune-500 companies are based
there. AmCham Shanghai is the fastest
growing in Asia, second only in size to Japan. As such, there is an abundance
of trained and talented personnel. Shanghai offers a gateway to the
Chinese market. Half of the 40,000 Chinese migrants to Australia over the
past decade have been Shanghainese. Half of Australia-China trade goes through the Shanghai part. Cumulative Australian investment in the
city is valued at over USD670 million. China is both Australia’s top source and fastest growing
education market —with 36,000 studying in Australia and 20,000 onshore. And the Shanghai region is the second
largest source of these students. In both the past two decades,
the Chinese economy has doubled. The
result is tremendous change -- and with it, tremendous opportunity. There will soon be more middle
class consumers in China, with middle class incomes and middle class spending
habits, than the entire population of Japan. The rise of a market economy in
China offers great scope for Australian businesses. Currently, over 50% of
our trade with China in value terms is based on commodities such as wool,
iron ore, wheat, and aluminium. The
Sydney Olympics manifestly demonstrated the world-class technology, logistic skills
and environmental expertise we have to offer and it is up to us to capitalise
on that success. Key opportunity sectors
are biotechnology, ICT, financial services, food, education, manufactures,
construction and building materials. China’s entry into the WTO in December
2001 presents further opportunities. It
has opened up the market in three key respects. Firstly, tariff liberalisation. Secondly, improved transparency -- trade procedures, rates, laws
and regulations which used to be state secrets are now publicly available. And thirdly, economic reform -- China now has
a 5-year blueprint for transition to a market economy. Our consulate recently surveyed
Australian businesses in Shanghai regarding China’s WTO accession. While many reported some continuing
challenges in the Chinese market -- such as foreign exchange remission,
bureaucratic inefficiency, and dispute resolution difficulties -- all said
there had been clear and often sizeable changes in China’s formal trade
restrictions. But they also reported
that the local business environment had grown more competitive as a result. Shanghai has a young, dynamic
and responsive leadership, eager to build a trading and investment environment
conducive to foreign business. This
was particularly evident during the recent SARS crisis. From a very early stage, the government
organised a series of conferences to both inform and reassure expatriates and
locals. Despite having only 8 cases,
it instituted strict measures to contain the disease, resulting in one of the
lowest SARS impacts in the whole of China. Australia moreover enjoys
excellent relations with the new Shanghai leadership -- many of whom know our
country well. I welcome you all to
take advantage of what is an exciting and growing market. |
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