By Imbert Matthee

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

July 28, 1995

The largest Chinese trade mission to visit the United States this year is coming to town, bringing billions of dollars worth of potential investment and sales opportunities for the U.S. construction industry, local organizers said yesterday.

Despite soured political relations between the United States and China, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation is sending a delegation of nearly 300 government, trade and private-sector representatives with plans for major construction projects.

The World of Concrete Expositions' Sino-American Trade Fair, which will display 100 Chinese building projects ranging from subway systems to apartment buildings, is scheduled next Friday through Sunday at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle.

Trade experts in the Northwest said the mission, which seemed in jeopardy in June after Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui was granted a visa to visit the United States, is an indication that it's business as usual when it comes to trade relations.

"If we can have an exhibition like this in the United States even when relations are sensitive, that's a good sign," said Rio Howard, trade development manager for the Port of Seattle. "That means it hasn't affected China's economic engagement."

The Chinese delegation includes 240 construction project officials from more than 40 Chinese cities who are seeking everything from joint-venture partners to equipment, materials and technology, said Connie Bacon, executive director of the World Trade Center in Tacoma, which is coordinating the event.

"It's mind-boggling," Bacon said. "We're talking about billions of dollars worth of projects." All projects have been approved by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, which is crucial to their financial success, Bacon said. Many of the projects are financed by investors from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the U.S. Export-Import Bank and local Chinese governments. The projects include:

-- A 40-story department store and a 75-kilometer highway in Chengdu.

-- An 81-kilometer railway with six stations connecting Zhanjiang City to Maoming City.

-- Two 10,000-ton container berths, a 20,000-square-meter freight yard and a major dredging project at the port of Xiahai.

-- A 372-kilometer coastal railway in the Yangtze River delta.

-- A major international airport and a 28-station light-rail system in Fuzhou. Next week's event, designed to bring the Chinese delegates together with at least 150 U.S. investors, suppliers and contractors, isn't open to the general public, Bacon said. But exhibitors, who pay $2,250 for a 100-square-foot booth, can still sign up for the exposition until Monday, she said.

"In dealing with the Chinese delegates, nothing is gained by people simply wandering through and dropping off their business cards," Bacon said. "This event gives the two sides three days of intensive work so they can figure out how they can start their relationship.

"Companies in the United States aren't just going to dump money there," she said, "(and) the Chinese aren't just going to give out contracts."

The Chinese mission will continue on to Chicago for an exposition on investment opportunities not related to construction.

Since Lee's controversial visit to the United States and since the Chinese arrested Chinese-American human rights activist Harry Wu earlier this month, diplomatic ties between the two trading partners have soured dramatically.

But both sides have stressed that the cooling of relations hasn't spilled over into business connections, and U.S. officials have said it has not resulted in a visible loss of trade for the United States.

Forwarded by Dan Hodel