Business Beyond the Reef

I admit to skepticism about statistics and business news that come out of China, and I don’t pay much attention to the rhetoric from Chinese officals (though the Chinglish translations can have immense entertainment value).  My skepticism has been vindicated.  This morning I read a wonderful post by Michael Pettis on GreenFaucet, an investment blog I read daily, about a study that shows the Chinese themselves put their trust in farmers, religious workers, sex workers, soldiers and students.  The study was based on an on-line poll of more than 3,000 Chinese, who also felt that the least credible people in China are real estate developers, agents, secretaries, entertainers and directors.  Groups such as teachers, scientists and government officials came somewhere in between.  I saw no mention of my own personal favorite sources of information: taxi drivers.

I can understand about some real estate developers – and entertainers have been known to do pretty awful ads on television, so I wouldn’t trust them either.  Like Michael Pettis, I am baffled about why the secretaries came out so badly.  But the study might give you a clue as to why the prospects claimed by your Chinese agent don’t match the orders you see.  You might try asking a local hooker what your agent has been doing lately.

You can see the original report of the study in the China Daily.

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Actually, it is British Airways making the offer, but it can’t be refused if you are a small business looking to break into international business in 2010.  BA will make grants to 100 small businesses consisting of FREE flights to anywhere in the world in the British Airways system, FREE global shipments for up to 500 kilos, and much more.  The grants are competitive and your company must apply by September 30.  Fly to British Airways!

Kudos to Tom Moore of Tropical Telecom for tipping me off to this one, and to Jürgen Thomas Steinmetz of ETurboNews, for reporting it.  Both are fellow members of the Hawaii Pacific Export Council.  You can see the ETurboNews article here.

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The United States long ago negotiated free trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia, but neither the Obama nor the Bush administrations have been able to get them approved by the U.S. Senate.  Now is your chance to give a hand to increasing U.S. trade with these markets.  The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has opened a public comment period on the FTA agreements and you have until September 15 to make your views known.  Past FTAs have shown huge beneficial effects for America’s trade and there is no reason to think that the FTAs with Korea and Colombia would do otherwise.  Comment on the agreements here for Korea and here for Colombia.

Here in Hawaii, we naturally think of the Korea FTA first, but the Colombia FTA could prove useful as well.  Hawaii has good trade with Korea already, and has many historical, cultural and business ties with Korea.  Past FTAs have benefited Hawaii’s export industries, witness the increases shown in Hawaii’s exports from these past FTAs (since their inception years):

U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement               125% increase since 2004
U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement        120% increase since 2004
U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement        1,342% increase since 2005

I suspect the impact of the Korea FTA will be similar to the boost we got from the U.S./Australia agreement!

You can find more about the Korea FTA here and the Colombia FTA here, including the full texts of the agreements.

And write to your senators, too!

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