Minister Ida Chong's Mission Journal

Day 8 — November 26

Journal entry for Nov. 26

Leaving Guangzhou for Hong Kong, I travelled through one of the sides of the Golden triangle (Macau, Guangzhou, Hong Kong), through a mix of traditional agriculture with historical farming techniques being practised in the midst of booming construction of new factories, apartments and communities to house China’s ever-expanding population.

My mission ended with a meeting with the Consul-General in Hong Kong, Mr. Gerry Campbell. In addition to affirming British Columbia’s geo-strategic position as the transportation gateway for goods to and from North America, the importance of the linkage of the upcoming Beijing Olympics 2008, British Columbia’s 150th anniversary in 2008, Vancouver Olympics 2010, Guangzhou Asian Games 2010 and Shanghai Expo 2010, I indicated that British Columbia’s investment climate is among the best in North America.

Compared with competing locations in the United States, businesses investing in B.C. can benefit from a significantly lower tax burden; B.C.'s corporate tax rate (combined federal and provincial) is typically lower than U.S. rates. Sixty-eight tax relief measures enacted by Premier Gordon Campbell includes a 27 per cent cut in the corporate income tax rate, the elimination of the general capital tax, as well as provincial personal income tax cuts.

This mission has been successful in opening doors leading to significant potential for B.C. local governments and regional economies here in China.

However, it will take considerable collaborative effort at the local level with partnerships of the business community, post-secondary educational institutions with the leadership of local governments and the long-term commitment of these partnerships to really benefit from the vast and vibrant potential that Asia holds.

There are many specific steps that I will be taking over the next number of weeks and months as a result of this mission.

Short term steps on a go-forward basis include the following:

1. Ensuring all local governments in B.C. are aware of the Memorandum of Understanding I signed with our sister province, Guangdong.

2. Making local governments aware of the leadership that a city mayor and council, such as Victoria, can have in advancing the sister city relationship towards greater economic robustness. On this mission, the City of Victoria renewed their sister city relationship with the City of Suzhou to this next level of economic opportunity.

3. Following up with specific expressions of interest that I received from Pudong, Zhongshan, Kaiping, Shunde, among others.

4. Working with those B.C. communities who are ready to establish or are interested in establishing sister city relationships with Chinese cities, to ensure that their memoranda of understanding includes economic opportunities.

5. Exploring the opportunity to showcase British Columbia twinning opportunities in the British Columbia-Canada Pavilion – Beijing 2008.

In addition, the success of sister city/twinning relationships can also be achieved by encouraging collaborative arrangements between B.C. Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Commissions with their counterparts in China, such as the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. I will be working with the Ministry of Economic Development to share the information gathered from this mission in that area.

Longer term, to strengthen the relationship between British Columbia and China from the local governments’ perspective, I shall work over the next year to support the development of economically robust twinning relationships in addition to exploring opportunities elsewhere in Asia: Korea, Japan and India, in particular.

The World Urban Forum will take place in Nanjing, China in October, 2008. Demonstrating the extent of the relationship between China and B.C., it would be a laudable goal to return to China with British Columbian mayors of communities who wish to twin and have shown leadership over this next year to develop economically robust twinnings.
 

This is the last entry in Minister Ida Chong's journal. If you have comments or feedback, e-mail us.