UK CG'S VIEWS ON CHONGQING ECONOMY, MARKET ACCESS, CLIMATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000163 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/CM, OES E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EINV ETRD SENV TBIO PREL CH SUBJECT: UK CG'S VIEWS ON CHONGQING ECONOMY, MARKET ACCESS, CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES REF: A. A) CHENGDU 071 ¶B. B) CHENGDU 081 CHENGDU 00000163 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. The impact of the global financial crisis on domestically focused Chongqing has been relatively small, with China's stimulus package and auto-sector incentives boosting GDP by 12.1 percent in the first half of 2009, the UK's Chongqing-based Consul General told us. Chongqing's Party Secretary has ambitions of turning his municipality into the most open inland economy in China, boosting its inland port through a new bonded zone, promoting a growing electronics industry, and advocating Chongqing as the financial center of southwest China. UK firms have faced unequal access to public tenders in Chongqing, and localized interpretations of China's WTO commitments have impaired market access. The UK has been active in raising local government and public awareness of climate change, and hopes to get low-carbon language inserted into Chongqing's next five-year plan. End Summary. Impact of Global Financial Crisis on Chongqing Relatively Small, Delayed -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The global financial crisis has had relatively little impact on Chongqing because its economy is "inward-looking" and focused on China's domestic market, UK CG Whittingham told visiting Chengdu CG on August 10. There were impacts, however, as some workers laid off in coastal provinces such as Guangzhou returned to Chongqing (leading to a drop in remittances of salaries, and in higher local unemployment). At first, Chongqing's key car industry was also impacted by a slowing domestic economy, but because of China's stimulus package (including tax reductions to spur car sales) it has recovered strongly. (See septel on Ford's joint venture in Chongqing.) Overall, Chongqing's GDP growth was up 12.1 percent in the first half of 2009, beating the national average. ¶3. (SBU) More generally, Chongqing Municipal Party Secretary Bo Xilai has ambitions to turn Chongqing into the most open inland economy in China, Whittingham said. Chongqing has an excellent river port, from which smaller container ships move goods to Shanghai, where they can be transferred to larger ships for transshipment abroad or to other coastal ports in China. Chongqing, although inland, also has a surprisingly strong shipbuilding industry. Note: China's central government approved the establishment of Chongqing's Cuntan Port Bonded Zone, the biggest bonded zone in inland China, in December 2008. End Note. ¶4. (SBU) Chongqing also has ambitions of creating a vibrant electronics industry, Whittingham noted. Taiwan-based Foxconn's recent decision to invest in a Chongqing laptop factory (reportedly a USD 3 billion investment to supply Hewlett Packard) is a step in this direction, but Chongqing remains far behind Chengdu (where US firms Intel and Cisco, for example, have factories),he felt. (Comment: The information technology industry's proportion of Chongqing's GDP increased from 2.9 percent in 2002, to 6.0 percent in 2007, per the Chongqing Foreign Trade and Economic Commission (COFTEC), suggesting that the municipality is having some success in building an electronics industry. End Comment.) "Three Hoops" to Market Access in Chongqing -------------- ¶5. (SBU) British firms have encountered three kinds of market access problems in Chongqing, Whittingham explained: A) Inadequate hard and soft infrastructure. Chongqing is making progress in addressing this by, for example, constructing CHENGDU 00000163 002.2 OF 003 international hospitals and schools, and by opening new air routes. B) Unequal access to local business opportunities. Chongqing and other local governments in southwest China will often tell foreign companies about a tender one week before, while giving local firms two months notice. This favoritism is because local governments prefer to award contracts to home-town firms, believing this is more likely to boost the local economy; corruption also gives local firms a leg up. C) Regulatory impediments. Although the central government has made commitments to the WTO, local governments have the flexibility to interpret these rules in ways that can impair real market access. One UK firm wanted to provide high-value architectural and safety design in Chongqing, for example, but is being compelled to do years of basic construction work before it will be allowed to do so. Moreover, the firm is being compelled to link up with local design firms in the interim. On the other hand, local flexibility might also work to the favor of foreign firms: the UK Consulate is also trying to convince Chongqing, working through the Banking Regulatory Commission, to expand the scope of existing licenses held by UK financial firms. ¶6. (SBU) Note: Bo Xilai has advocated a strategy to convert Chongqing into the financial and transportation center of southwest China, and the "Chicago" of China by 2020. Consul General toured the river area at night where cranes are just starting to build what city leaders hope will become a future financial center in the image of Shanghai's Pudong district. End note. Climate Change is Core Strategic Goal for UK in Chongqing; Rural Development Also Emphasized -------------- -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Reflecting one of the UK's foreign policy priorities, the UK Consulate General in Chongqing has a team of three employees (one UK national and two local employees) working on climate change, versus only one employee working full time on political/economic issues. This three-person team has spent about 65 percent of its time on Chongqing and 20 percent of its time in Sichuan promoting awareness of the importance of climate change via websites, blogs and public events. (The Consulate also covers Yunnan and Guizhou.) The Consulate recently entered the second phase of its public diplomacy work on climate change by including messages to business audiences on the economic benefits of a low-carbon economy. ¶8. (SBU) The UK Consulate has been working with London-based Chatham House (aka the Royal Institute of International Affairs),UK firm ERM, and Chongqing's local Development and Reform Commission (CDRC) on a variety of climate change and rural development projects. It has a "sustainable cities" MOU with Chongqing that fits well with the municipality's "Five Chongqings" sustainable development plans ("green," "healthy," "safe," "transport", and "livable" Chongqing). It hopes to get low-carbon language inserted into Chongqing's next five-year plan. The UK's Foreign Minister signed an agreement in 2008 with the CDRC regarding 35 projects related to urban-rural cooperation and development. One recently completed project was on local land reform; the UK Consulate General is seeking local support for a rural health care project, possibly in cooperation with the World Bank and the National Health Service of Wales. ¶9. (SBU) One promising area for public-private partnership in rural development is the push of UK banks into rural finance. UK banking giant HSBC has received a rural banking license in the city of Dazu. Fellow UK banking giant Standard Chartered is CHENGDU 00000163 003.2 OF 003 already doing rural finance elsewhere in China, and is also interested in a license to do so in Chongqing. BROWN