Houston-China Relations; Brown/Ellis in China

I spoke to a friend of mine today who is VERY active in the Asian community in Houston. He told me that Houston and China have very a very good relationship and, in fact, we hold many trade and other agreements with various cities in China.

Even more interesting, Mayor Brown and State Senator Rodney Ellis left for China on May 19 and will be there until May 31 on behalf of furthering these agreements with Chinese cities INCLUDING Shanghai. Here's the city press release:

http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/citygovt/mayor/press/051702.htm

<i>Mayor Lee P. Brown Leads Trade Mission to China
Houston Firm Expects to Sign Multi-Million Dollar Contract During Trip



May 17, 2002 -- Mayor Lee P. Brown will lead a delegation of approximately 50 business and industry representatives on a high-level executive trade mission to the People's Republic of China, May 19 through May 31, 2002. Mayor Brown also will be accompanied State Senator Rodney Ellis, Assistant Texas Secretary of State Geoffrey S. Connor and Houston Port Commissioner Kase Lawal.

"China is a huge, continually emerging market for numerous industries," said Mayor Brown. "International air and sea links are well established and China is a region that presents Houston corporations and organizations with many investment opportunities, not only in oil and natural gas, but also in technology, infrastructure, commerce and many other industries."

During the trip, a Houston-based engineering firm is expected to sign a multi-million dollar contract to build two science related facilities in China.

More than 260 Houston firms presently conduct business in China or with Chinese companies. "We want to increase that number," added Mayor Brown, "as well as the volume of business already being conducted there."

Mayor Brown and members of the Houston delegation will meet with various government officials, including either the President or Vice President of China. They also will visit the Chinese Minister of Science and Technology; the governors of Shanxi, Zhejiang and Liaoning Provinces; and the mayors of Beijing, Tianjin, Xi'an and Shanghai. Meetings with U. S. Embassy officials in China are also scheduled.

Mayor Brown and members of the delegation expect to sign several cooperative agreements with Chinese counterparts during the trip, including: Sister University agreements between the University of Houston and various universities in China; Sister High School agreements between the Houston Independent School District and various high schools in China; government personnel training agreements between the City of Houston and China's State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, the Xinjian Uyguy Autonomous Region government, the Shandong provincial government and the Shanxi provincial government; a Partner Cities in High Technology agreement between Houston and the City of Xi'an; a Partner Cities in Petroleum agreement between Houston and the City of Panjin; a Partner Cities in Heavy Industrial agreement and a Partner Cities in High Technology agreement between Houston and the City of Shenyang; a Sister Airport agreement between Houston's Intercontinental Airport and Xi'an's Xianyang International Airport and the Hangzhou International Airport; and cooperative training agreements between the City of Houston Aviation System and the Beijing Capital Airport and the Shanghai International Airport.

During the Houston delegation's visit, the City of Beijing will host the 5th Annual China High Tech Week, a conference that historically draws as many as 180,000 attendees. Mayor Brown will be a keynote speaker at the conference.

"This trip is especially important," said Mayor Brown, "because we also will be setting up five in-kind Houston Trade Centers in Beijing, Tianjin, Xi'an, Shanghai and Hangzhou. These centers will help Houston businesses and corporations become more competitive in emerging Chinese markets." The City of Tianjin is providing land, at no cost to the City of Houston, on which to build a 'Houston Industrial Park'.

A 20-person State of Texas delegation, which is conducting a business mission to China concurrently with the Houston mission, will join the Houston delegation for several meetings with Chinese counterparts.

Entities represented by the delegation are El Paso Energy; Merrill Lynch, International; Locke, Lidell & Sapp, LLP; Nobellium Partners; the University of Houston; Texas A&M University; American Eagle Foods; Asian American Enterprise; Radical Technology LTD.; Frenchy's Sausage Company; Global Unisource (USA), Inc.; Spacehab; Premiumco.com; Harrods Hotel Group; Texas First National Bank; Ehwa, Inc.; Hunan Restaurant; Johnson Engineering; Transpacific Development; Computer Outlet; Linbeck Construction Corporation; Vision Optique; STOA International Architects, Inc.; Southern News Group; Bysoft, Inc.; Harcourt School Publisher; Houston Hospice; Peacole, Inc.; Peduzzi & Company; Southwestern University; James Shu & Associates; Yi Shing Manufacturing Company, Inc.; Montgomery Watson; Asia City; ABC Institute, Inc.; American Smart Technologies, Inc.; Rohm & Haas Texas, Inc.; Houscana Corp.; Sigmax Security, Inc.; and the U. S. China Trade Center. </i>

Anyone who wants to tell the Mayor to discuss Yao Ming on his trip and help smooth the way, if possible, send him an email at mayor@cityofhouston.net or email Rodney Ellis at Rodney.Ellis@senate.state.tx.us .

On Houston-China relations, Houston has 4 sister cities in China: Taipei Municipality (Taiwan), Shenzhen, Dalian, Beijing.

Read about sister city agreements at the following links:

http://www.sister-cities.org/sci/directory/USA/TX
http://www.asiasociety.org/speeches/leebrown.html <-- info from the Mayor
http://www.embassiesinchina.com/sistercities/

These agreements foster trade and cultural exchanges among other things. The mayors from the respective cities sign a formal agreement recognizing the exchanges.

Houston also has an agreement with Shanghai to cooperate on airport operations:

http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/citygovt/mayor/press/090701a.htm
http://www.tiaca.org/articles/2001/09/11/24696B8D75B84B5394D53BB562878260.asp

In addition, several large companies based in Houston have operations in Shanghai and throughout China. Here's one example of an electric company providing substations for Shanghai:

http://houston.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2002/03/18/daily23.html

My friend also told me that the Chinese community is not only extensive but well-organized. They have numerous events in the community and are a fairly tight-knit group.

One example is:

http://www.chineseciviccenter.org/en/

I know that we've heard Houston is not a problem as a city for them, but I thought it was interesting that we have such an extensive cooperative relationship both with Chinese citizens of our two countries and so many business and government agreements spanning everything from business and trade to cultural exchanges.

Just figured it was worth the read.

 

Honestly, I doubt seriously that discussion of Yao Ming was even on the mayor's agenda. The city has routinely made these trips to China for the benefit of local business. It is not uncommon.

However, knowing that he is there now and is doing city business, it would seem a natural fit to have him chat up the Yao situation with the Mayor of Shanghai if time permits, no?

 

Thanks heech! That's great info about Shanghai as well.

Hey, check this: <a href="http://www.hccbbs.net/temp/2674.html">Help Bring Yao to Houston!</a>

Here are some more Houston Chinese links:

<a href="http://www.houstonchinese.com/">HoustonChinese.com</a> - Huge resource
<a href="http://www.hccbbs.net/">Houston Chinese Bulletin Board Community</a> - Cool! Like us.
<a href="http://www.houston.ocac.net/">Houston Chinese Culture Center</a>
<a href="http://www.apaha.org/">The Asian Pacific Heritage Association</a>
<a href="http://www.ccchouston.org/">Houston Chinese Community Center</a>
<a href="http://members.aol.com/icchouston/">Houston Institute of Chinese Culture</a>

Those are just SOME of the sites I found. Pretty extensive.