中新社温哥华十日消息：在全球经济持续低迷之际，中国以强大的发展潜力，被加拿大媒体视为经济衰退期中的「救命稻草」。加拿大《环球邮报》撰文称，与中国有生意往来的加拿大公司正排长队，希望能够从中国巨额的救市方案中分得一杯羹。
这篇题为「中国成为救市长城」的报道列举大量事实分析说，尽管全球经济衰退，但中国仍预期今年的经济增长率将维持在百分之六左右。而还未全面展开的救市方案，其中对交通基建、低耗房屋以及绿色科技方面的投入，已经让在中国的加拿大公司使出「浑身解数」。
报道称，以加拿大庞巴迪公司为例，公司已投入到中国铁路和航线扩建工程的竞标当中。庞巴迪中国总裁兼首席代表张剑炜表示，中国的机会只会越来越多。
「我们积极跟进中国的救市方案和相关项目。事实上即便在这个方案公布之前，中国已经在交通基础建设中投入了几十亿的资金。随着救市方案的出台，无论是投入的力度还是项目的广度，也都将随之扩大。」报道说，加拿大木材局已经在去年发生地震的四川灾区展开重建活动。目前在建的三个主要项目包括，一个将于今年秋天落成的小学，一个儿童和青少年中心以及一个老年看护中心。加拿大木材局希望能够以此展示低成本的加拿大木材和建屋技术。
报道认为，无论是救市方案本身还是中国未来的发展，都将为加拿大企业提供大量的机会。比如，中国对于原材料的稳定需求对加拿大以资源为基础的经济非常有利，主要的基础设施建设一定会增加对加拿大铜、铁、煤以及镍的需求，而即便从事信息技术、环境科学以及医疗健康方面的小型企业也可以从中获益。
加中贸易理事会北京执行总监约翰认为，已经在中国的加拿大企业尤其是救市方案涉及的行业，都能或直接或间接地得到利益。但他同时提醒理事会成员企业，提早建立与中国的良好关系也是必须的条件之一。
China becomes the great wall of stimulus
CAROLYNNE WHEELER
From Friday’s Globe and Mail
April 9, 2009 at 8:35 PM EDT
BEIJING — — Canadian companies doing business in China are lining up for what they hope will be a share of the country’s dramatic four-trillion-yuan ($718-billion) stimulus package, using existing Chinese partnerships to cash in on massive new spending in transportation, low-cost housing and green technologies.
Big Canadian names including Bombardier Inc. and industry group Canada Wood are working on the highest-profile efforts.
Although the stimulus financing is still in its early stages, Bombardier is expected to bid on contracts for upgrades and expansions to China’s railways and air links, while Canada Wood is encouraging the use of Canadian wood in low-cost housing programs and rebuilding in the Sichuan earthquake zone.
But smaller Canadian companies working in information technologies, environmental science and health care also stand to benefit, even if indirectly, from the stimulus package.
As well, Canadian banks operating in China could benefit through programs advising their Chinese counterparts on managing risk on loans to small and medium-sized businesses.
The Chinese economy is forecast to expand 6 per cent this year, despite the global recession, and Canadian companies in China are eager to tap into that growth.
Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day arrives in China Friday for a seven-day tour taking him to Beijing, Shenyang, Chengdu and Beichuan, epicentre of the devastation caused by last year’s earthquake, as well as Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Mr. Day will be accompanied by a parallel trade mission focusing on wood-frame construction and aerospace, as hopeful Canadian business representatives try to increase trade ties with the world’s third-largest economy.
“We feel the companies who are already in China, and in the sectors under the stimulus package for sure, are going to get benefits, [although] not directly,” said John Shou, managing director in Beijing for the Canada China Business Council.
He wrote to council members, shortly after the stimulus package was announced last November, urging them to take advantage of the new spending — and cautioning that previous involvement in China is essential.
“The Chinese government didn’t create the stimulus package to save foreign companies,” Mr. Shou said in an interview. “For international companies to get a piece of the cake they need strong Chinese partners, or a niche that the Chinese desperately need.”
Bombardier China president Zhang Jianwei would not discuss specific projects under the stimulus package in which the company may be involved, but said opportunities are increasing in China.
“We are actively following the Chinese economic stimulus package and related projects. Even prior to the announcement of the economic stimulus package, China was spending billions of dollars on transportation infrastructure, and with the stimulus plan both the pace of spending and the range of projects are increasing,” Mr. Zhang said in an interview conducted through a company spokesman.
“I look forward to seeing more good news from our China operations this year.”
Bombardier’s recent Chinese deals have included supplying nearly 500 cars for the Shanghai metro, 40 cars for the rail link between terminals at Beijing’s Capital International Airport, and 500 freight locomotives for the Chinese Ministry of Railways
Canada Wood has been deeply involved along with the B.C. government on reconstruction in the area of Sichuan province devastated by an earthquake nearly a year ago.
Working with a donation of $5-million from the B.C. government and $3-million from Natural Resources Canada, the group initially concentrated on the building of three major projects: a primary school, which is to open this fall; a rehabilitation centre for children and teens disabled in the earthquake; and an elder-care centre.
But Canada Wood is now also demonstrating construction of low-cost wood housing for the disaster zone, in the hope that Canadian technology and materials will be chosen as an alternative to concrete for single-family dwellings and low-rise apartments.
“The Sichuan earthquake created, out of a terrible situation, an opportunity to do some public buildings,” said Fred Spoke, managing director of Canada Wood China.
Fully 25 per cent of the Chinese stimulus plan is to go toward rebuilding in the earthquake zone, with another 1.5 trillion yuan going to the upgrading of public infrastructure and 370 billion yuan to rural development. Thus, even smaller projects such as reroofing aging apartment blocks or replacing decrepit public buildings can create opportunities.
“[Your opportunity] matters a lot on the specifics of what kind of business you’re in. What is very clear is the stimulus package is going to raise investment spending in China significantly,” said economist Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Dragonomics, a research and advisory firm in Beijing. Though he cautioned that opportunities are limited to specific niches and raw materials, Japan’s export numbers this year reveal the impact Chinese demand can have on a country’s sagging fortunes.
“If you look for example at the curve of Japanese exports to China as compared to Japanese exports everywhere else, they’re heading in completely opposite directions. Exports to China are going up and exports to everywhere else are going down,” Mr. Kroeber said.
A stabilization in Chinese demand for raw materials would surely benefit Canada’s resource-based economy. The major infrastructure build, for example, would boost demand for Canadian copper, iron ore, coal and nickel.
Mr. Day’s visit to Beijing is being applauded by Canadian business leaders in China as a good first step toward improving the current frosty political climate and, in turn, business relations. He is to meet with several senior Chinese ministers and regional officials, as well as pay his condolences at the Beichuan earthquake site.
Before leaving Ottawa, Mr. Day said Prime Minister Stephen Harper also plans to visit China later this year to expand bilateral relations.
The Canada China Business Council’s communiqué on stimulus spending noted that countries “with friendly relationships with China will be on top of the list” for contracts. And as Canada Wood’s Mr. Spoke puts it: “We’ve got very good relations up to a certain level of government, but to get beyond that, you really need the politicians.”
Special to The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090409.wrchina10/BNStory/International
