CHINA / Foreign Media on China
Straw tilts foreign policy towards China and India
(The Guardian)
Updated: 2006-03-28 16:02
CHINA / Face to Face
Countries' roads, take me there
By GONG ZHENGZHENG (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-03-27 08:13
Americans and Europeans have enjoyed affordable, high quality Chinese
commodities such as textiles and home appliances for a number of years.
And if Li Shufu realizes his dream, cars will be the country's next major
export.
The chairman of domestic upstart Geely Automobile says cars under Chinese
brands will gain acceptance among foreign motorists, even in the
particularly demanding markets of the United States and Europe.
Li Shufu, Geely Chairman
"I hope Chinese-brand cars will be on roads all over the world one day,"
the 43-year old Li says, despite the fact that foreign brands currently
dominate China's car market.
However, Li has ambitious plans for the overseas market. Based in East
China's Zhejiang Province, Geely expects to sell 1.3 million cars in
foreign markets per year by 2015, two-thirds of its planned annual output
for that period.
This currently seems unlikely, as Geely is still a small player compared
to the world's biggest auto manufacturers.
Li is not full of hot air, though. He understands the industry and he has
already achieved impressive results.
"Li Shufu would not have been able to take Geely this far without
thinking big," says Michael Dunne, president of Automotive Resources Asia
Ltd, a consultancy with offices in Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai.
"He does not shy away from a challenge," Dunne tells China Business
Weekly.
Geely started looking at overseas markets three years ago. It exported
7,000 cars last year, an increase of 60 per cent from 2004. The company's
sales also jumped to 150,000 cars from 100,000 units.
One of only a handful of Chinese automakers focused on independent brand
development, the company flexed its muscles in the United States and
Europe by participating in two recent international auto shows. Yet
despite the audacity, it is still no match for the big foreign names. The
company made its debut at the Frankfurt International Motor Show last
September, followed by an appearance at the North American International
Auto Show in January.
Geely has announced it will enter the US market in late 2008 with its
Freedom Cruiser sedan, where the model will retail for less than
US$10,000.
Li says Geely will not foolishly rush into the European and US markets,
however. Its main targets now are Southeast Asia, the Middle East and
Latin America.
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Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, is to set out a new direction for
British foreign policy today that will shift the balance towards the
growing economies of China and India.
Mr Straw will be speaking at a "leadership conference" in London of 200
British ambassadors, high commissioners, governors and other Foreign
Office staff brought back from their posts worldwide. As well as his
speech, a 60-page government white paper is to be published on the future
of diplomacy.
In the last white paper two years ago, only two paragraphs were devoted
to China and India. Since then, there has been growing recognition that
China is almost certain to be one of the dominant economic forces of the
21st century and a challenge to the US's superpower status. India too is
emerging as a powerhouse and being courted by the US as a possible
counterweight to China.
The white paper, An Active Diplomacy for a Changing World, comes only
weeks after Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, announced a
redeployment of diplomatic staff away from Europe to China and India and
to Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia where hostility towards
the US has grown. A similar shift in priorities is taking place in
Britain.
The Foreign Office has frequently been sidelined by Downing Street since
Tony Blair took office particularly in the run-up to the Iraq war. As
well as the 200 overseas representatives, the London gathering will be
attended by 150 London-based Foreign Office staff. Diplomats will have
the opportunity throughout the day-long event to challenge Mr Straw and
his ministerial colleagues, Sir Michael Jay, the most senior diplomat,
and Sir Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary.
The event is closed to the media, other than Mr Straw's opening speech.
The white paper will stress a need for British diplomats to pay more
attention to issues such as climate change and diminishing energy
supplies.
It will also emphasise a need for better consular services after
criticism by expatriates and holidaymakers in the wake of the Asian
tsunami and other catastrophes.
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