Insights for Snohomish County businesses seeking trade with China

EVERETT — Snohomish County residents who want to do business with China first need to do their homework.

Then they need to find a partner.

“You can't do it alone,” said Visakan Ganeson, director of international education for Everett Community College. “It's impossible. Partners help you get to places you need to be that we have no access to.”

Ganeson was among four panelists at the college Friday who talked about Chinese trade.

He noted the college itself has found a partner, Dan Su of Mukilteo-based Washington U.S.-China Education Exchange Services, who has helped the college forge ties with Fengtai Community College in Beijing. EvCC is beginning student and faculty exchanges and community exhanges with Beijing school.

Louise Stanton-Masten, president of the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, talked about the organization's trip to China in October, noting that the country is spending huge amounts to develop sophisticated industrial parks.

Masten said that new business develops differently in China because the government can pretty much place it wherever it wants.

“If the government wants to do a project, it's very easy to say to individuals there that you will be moving here because we will be developing,” she said.

Su said that the Chinese have a different approach to their industrial parks. They aren't bothered if the parks aren't immediately full.

“The Chinese can wait,” he said. “You see a lot of industrial parks that are (partially) vacant. That they're not being used is beyond the U.S. imagination. But the Chinese believe in building a bird's nest to attract a phoenix. They make the nest comfortable so a phoenix will come.”

Stanton-Masten, Ganeson and Su all said that in addition to business development, China is investing heavily in education — much more so than the U.S.

“We are short-selling our students big time,” Ganeson said. “We are not preparing our students to compete with the world economy. We are setting them up for failure.”

China is also evolving politically from a society completely driven by communist leaders, the panelists said.

“The government is no longer the real controller of the country because the Internet is so popular,” Su said. “Chinese leaders are getting more and more internal pressure every year.”

The Chinese people don't want the government to back down to the U.S. over issues including Tibet or Taiwan, but they are willing to let the governments fight things out while they still do business, Su said.

Su noted the people and the government study the U.S. political and business systems carefully and are willing to “wait three years for things to change.”

“Americans look at their immediate surroundings,” he said. “The Chinese can wait.”

Ganeson noted that Snohomish County businesses that would like to learn more about the Chinese culture might consider establishing an internship with a Chinese student at Everett Community College.

“We have students from China here,” he said, adding he'd be glad to help establish the internships.

He also suggested that more U.S. students go overseas.

“We need to learn about the Chinese and to engage the Chinese style,” he said. “They are learning anything and everything about us.”