(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-01-09 17:52

Bohigian chats with Chinese citizens - video (I)

 

 

China Daily: So what is the main purpose of this visit? I get the impression you are almost the team leader of a beauty parade! A whole bunch of American companies, each one with a portfolio of solutions they are ready to offer the Chinese market.

Bohigian: Well the purpose of my visit this week to Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong is to lead a mission of clean energy companies from the United States. These are 17 companies that represent everything from solar power to clean coal, to energy efficiency and beyond. It gives us the opportunity to talk to Chinese companies, which we'll have hundreds of meetings with, throughout the week, to work on opportunities together to provide more energy to the Chinese people, to provide energy efficiency and clean air and clean water and make sure that the environment that is being created by our use of greenhouse gases is as good as it can be.

China Daily: Here's another question. Because of the size of our growth, we've been called by critiques as the two chief emitters in the world. It's just a matter of the weight of our economies. If the US and China can really work together in promoting cleantech, what kind of results are you looking forward to, both between the two governments and on the corporate level?

Bohigian: You're exactly right that our two countries are the major emitters of the world, because of the strengths of our economy. There are observers who aren't sure if China is ahead of the United States or behind the United States, but that's not what we are here to debate. What we're here to talk about is how we can provide more energy in a more efficient and cleaner manner so that we're able to reduce the intensity of our greenhouse gas emissions in the decades to come. So what I'm hoping for are two different things. One is to continue the tremendous discussions we’ve had as part of the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which includes United States, China, India and other countries in a series of multilateral meetings and task forces to talk about deploying these technologies. Another part of that discussion process, and China is participating in it, is the major economies meeting that was hosted in Washington in late 2007 and will be hosted again in Hawaii in just the next few weeks. So those policy discussions are happening while we're in Beijing and Hong Kong and in Guangzhou with both central government officials as well as provincial and local officials to talk about things like market based pricing for energy, talk about how to protect intellectual property rights so the most important innovations can come to market. So we've got many policy goals that we'll be discussing, as we did this morning, with the Ministry of Finance and Commerce as well as the National Development and Reform Commission, tomorrow morning. So we’re happy to have those discussions because together – Often in the United States we say that the government creates the climate for business or government helps the environment for prosperity, and that's never more true than when we're discussing that on environment and climate issues. The second goal . . .

China Daily: Well regarding technologies and solutions from the US, there have been some stereotypes among business people in developing countries that solutions from rich countries are not really good for the conditions of developing countries, they are expensive, they charge a lot of royalties and they have a lot of strings attached regarding intellectual property rights, and so on. They are expensive to purchase, implement, and especially in the cleantech area, because it's a new industry, some people say, well, let's wait and see and you never know. This is a new solution; let's wait another ten or twenty years to see if it really works. I know you're not in any particular business, but can you share with us what solutions that will be particularly good, not just for developed countries and not just for rich countries, but also for every country in the world?

Bohigian: Well, it certainly is true that US companies and global companies have been able to adapt to marketplace conditions throughout the developed and the developing world and we think that continues in the energy business. We think that the only thing more expensive than not deploying these technologies today is trying to clean up the environmental degradation, whether it's air or water or carbon, in the years ahead. China has an enormous political, as well as market opportunity to leapfrog the mistakes some of the developed countries have made in not deploying these technologies earlier. You also know from your business experience that while some technologies may have higher upfront costs to install, they have lower operating costs over the life of the project. So to put in a coal-fired electricity generating plant might be less expensive in the beginning, but the feed stock of coal needs to continue to be added to that plant for the life of the 40 or 50 years of that plant. As opposed to being able to put in a wind farm or solar panels where the feedstock remains free for the life of the project.

China Daily: We also noticed that China has a very strong competitive capacity and capability in implementing solutions and America has very good technologies and it's good at turning out new solutions. If the two countries can join together to put their advantages together in implementing good solutions, do you see there would be a good chance to set an example for other developing countries, and especially major economies around the Pacific Rim, like Indonesia or India and some other major countries so that your companies and Chinese engineers, perhaps, and workers, can implement a lot of solutions everywhere.

Bohigian: We're in no choice. Our countries and our companies must lead. Simply put, whether it's policy, or whether it's implementation and design, if China and the United States are not working together, the problems will only get worse when it comes to air pollution, water pollution, and climate change. So we think that our companies have the ability to work together closely with your companies. Our last trade mission, held in April 2007, was the first ever clean energy trade mission that the United States government had ever led. That trade mission has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sales, and we believe each one of those is a design and implementation solution for both of our countries.

China Daily: You already answered a couple of questions that netizens raised about your first clean energy technologies trade mission both to China and India, and they asked about the results from your visit last April. Now, the question is, will there be more trade missions like this or will it become more regular or institutionalized between the two countries - or between several countries - or is it going to something tied to a bigger framework or program.

Bohigian: Every American knows the Chinese phrase that a journey begins with a single step. And today we’ve made two important steps at once. First, having our companies be here on the second clean energy trade mission has helped our countries to be able to institutionalize the ability for our companies to get together. And the second step we've made today is opening up a dialogue on clean energy and energy efficiency. And that dialogue, along with our partners at CCCME, and our partners at NDRC and MOFCOM, we certainly hope continue. The President has put an enormous priority to working with the world through the major economies process, as well as the Asia Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate and we certainly expect that that will continue.

China Daily: Um so can I ask you to make a comparison between your first trip and your trip now. As I remember last April, it was still the issue of energy was still hot and one of the hottest issues that everybody was talking about it, especially it was the time the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel of scientists still to release their report about climate change. But now everyone is talking about the global warming, about the energy issue, about the emissions, and … China – the entire business of the environment has been changing. Do you see that? And you can feel the reaction from the Chinese not just officials but the Chinese companies to buy or to at least look at the clean tech roofing that you have brought along.

Bohigian: Well to the present President Bush's credit, one of his first acts in office over seven years ago was to put energy at the forefront of his administration's policies. And asked his vice president to ensure that we develop energy policies that allow the world and the United States to have affordable, reliable, and secure energy. Importantly the Chinese in the last Five-Year Plans realized the long-term implications of energy, security, affordability and reliability. But the present work on climate change isn't new; the Asia-Pacific partnership for clean development and climate for instance was set up between our countries in 2005. The manifestation of that in a trade mission is new. And I think that's an important new chapter in our relationship to have our companies working together to deploy these technologies. Because there are enormously important debates happening in the United Nations framework that the President wants to be a part of as part of the major economies process. He also wants to ensure that the US Congress is doing things that look to innovation for energy security and reliability in the future. But we hope these clean energy trade missions only serve to increase the pace of our ability to deploy these technologies and work together to develop policies that will help the world.

China Daily: Are you expecting that the initiative that you have already taken to continue after 2008 and the January election on the level of the Department of Commerce and also hopefully in a smooth way the two countries can continue to work together.

Bohigian: I really do expect that will continue in 2009 under a new president and beyond. Because it really has become a generational issue. That this generation of policy makers and more and more voters understand the importance of these issues. So I believe it is bipartisan, both Republicans and Democrats seek to develop cleaner resources of energy and energy that doesn’t have the same sort of carbon footprint we’ve had in the past. So I expect that to continue on a bipartisan basis. The difficult issue in this presidential election from a foreign policy issue is working with China and showing that it's a cooperative relationship. Because there are many in the United States who don't believe that the benefits of free trade outweigh the costs. And China in many respects has become a focus point for that discussion. So it’s important that we show cooperation on trade and on clean energy and all the areas that we have a tremendous relationship to be able to ensure that also is a bipartisan consensus that working with the United States and China and the world continues in a way that's helped make our two economies two of the greatest in the world.

China Daily: Thank you very much for your comments. Uh, we have some other questions, not necessarily regarding energy. One is that our netizens also understand that you are one of the US officials in charge of trying to get more investment into the United States. You're the key person for the Invest in America initiative. Can you give us a brief introduction about the information that you have regarding the Chinese companies investment activities in the United States.

Bohigian: Yes. We launched the Invest in America initiative last year in March to highlight for the world that the United States remains the most open economy in the world when it comes to investment. There are over 5 million Americans who depend on their jobs from everyone from Haier to BMW in the United States. And we want to continue to attract that capital from around the world to the United States. It’s one of our real economic strengths. And certainly China, with its enormous reserves, is an important part of that conversation. We'd like to highlight the fact that while many people focus on a review mechanism that the United States has for national security, that more than 90 percent of deals, nine out of 10 deals in the United States never go before that committee. And we'd encourage countries like China not to have lists of "encouraged" or "prohibited" or other transactions. We like to see that sort of open environment for the investment climate throughout the world.

China Daily: Do you have any figures of last year and the year just passed in which investment come into the United States and from various countries and various industries? I heard that the number of mergers and acquisitions in the United States was something like a record from the previous number of years mainly because of the price of the dollar is coming down and makes the United States more attractive to investors from the outside.

Bohigian: Well 2007 figures aren't in yet because we're just in the early part of January. But 2006 was a record year for foreign direct investment in the United States. And we expect that investors around the world did take advantage of opportunities to invest in the United States in an even greater rate in 2007. So whether that's been in the aerospace industry all the way through every other industry in the United States, the amount of deal flow we expect will be up and we'll be number one in the world again.

China Daily: And also in this event we see a lot of business delegations from the United States. You may have noticed that China is right now in the middle of, you can call it a city building campaign. And everywhere cities, people are building new cities, big ones and small ones. And also old cities are building new parts, new sections. Um, they're just starting and also public infrastructure, public services they are going to provide to the residents. And in this particular area do you think there is any possibility for the US mayors or city planning specialists, companies and services and consulting firms to share their views and experiences with Chinese cities?

Bohigian: Well there are enormous opportunities for US and Chinese companies to work together on the urban planning that you are undertaking. It truly is one of the enormous opportunities in the world. I've had the chance to talk to the American Institute of Architects that have been able to partner with their Chinese counterparts to develop that sort of city planning and I expect that will continue. I also would like to highlight what I said before when you put this urban infrastructure in, it's going to be there for decades, so it's important to get right. And when you look at the efficiency arguments, really getting building insulation right is one of the most cost effective things that any country can do. So we hope that China will be developing global standards that allow building efficiency as well as appliance efficiency when they’re working on these cities that we’ll be able to work with you together on developing these standards.

China Daily: And also many of the clean tech companies from the United States perhaps haven't had much of a presence in China or they're just coming to look for opportunities. What kind of local environment that they may look forward to? What kinds of services do they expect China to provide? What kind of regulatory conditions and business environment supporting the networks, looking forward to in China?

Bohigian: Well, US Chinese and global companies will all benefit from some of the policy changes that China is undertaking. I will just highlight a few for you. One would be market-based pricing for energy. The ability for people to pay what is the appropriate rate, the global rate for energy is probably the most powerful force to being able to create energy efficiency and new innovation opportunities in China. Second, I would highlight rule of law issues. The ability for companies to understand what they bargain for and to be able to be supported by the court system is absolutely crucial. And third would be intellectual property rights. And when I talk about the innovative technologies that US companies bring to China and around the world, we hear stories about them not wanting to bring their best technologies to China because they are afraid that somebody will steal that technology. So those are the three opportunities that I would highlight. But in closing, I do think that China remains an enormous opportunity for both countries. We are going to take a bus ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong tomorrow. And on that bus ride we are going to see one out 20 of the factories in the world developing products. And we want to make sure that the Chinese people and the American people and people around the world are able to use that prosperity to be able to help cleanup the world for their children and our countries. So it's an enormous opportunity that our partners here and the Chinese government, and with CCCME, have provided and it's a tremendous opportunity you have provided me today so I want to thank you for the opportunity.

China Daily: Thank you very much.

Bohigian: Xie xie. Thank you.

 

Bohigian chats with Chinese citizens - audio (I)

 Bohigian chats with Chinese citizens - audio (II)