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business & economy

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Garry Guo of the Jian Donghyun Textile Company, who speaks English but not Spanish, gets a little help from the Beijing Cultural Communications Company, which occupied the adjacent booth, to answer a Panamanian buyer's questions about the fabrics his firm sells.

China Expo: this giant is definitely not sleeping

photos and article by Eric Jackson

The People's Republic of China, with which Panama has no formal diplomatic relations, is nevertheless one of Panama's main trading partners. The Colon Free Zone is in many ways the Chinese industry's warehouse and wholesale sales office for Central and northern South America and the Caribbean. The growing trade between China and Brazil passes almost entirely through the Panama Canal. Most  Chinese products headed for North America's Atlantic seabord do likewise.

While China participates in the EXPOCOMER trade fairs, its rival Taiwan occupies center stage at those events. Moreover, the EXPOCOMER shows are increasingly unfriendly to the general public --- they prefer visitors who are there to do large-scale business --- whereas China wants to show off the products of its industry to as many Panamanians as possible, for political as well as economic reasons. Thus from time to time China puts on its own commercial expositions at ATLAPA. They are not as large as EXPOCOMER but they are nevertheless impressive.

Usually a few areas of the vast Middle Kingdom send one or two delegations of many businesses, while other parts of the country send one or two companies. This time the big delegation came from northeastern Shandong province and its capital Jinan. But there were also an artists' marketing firm from Beijing, a large booth from the heavy industries of the Shanghai-Pudong area, a bicycle company from Tian Jin and other representatives of other areas.

At the last China Expo the great majority of companies had no distributors here, but this time a lot of the firms already market their goods through the Colon Free Zone and were looking to build on past successes by showing off their newest products. Many of the exhibitors used multilingual Chinese-Panamanian interpreters or representatives. English is taught in China's schools and almost all of the Chinese businesspeople in attendance could speak it at least a little bit, but it seemed that most of the Chinese visitors couldn't speak Spanish.

This fair was a masterpiece of the soft sell. China didn't have to mouth any slogans about being a major industrial power --- merely showing off the products of several of their automotobile companies, some their motorcycles and some of their power tools was sufficient to convey that message. China, the world's most populous country, is a very busy giant indeed and wants Panamanians to know that it makes good economic sense to establish and maintain full relations with its government in Beijing.

Will Zhu, whom I encountered staffing the Shandong Shantui Construction Import & Export Company, which distributes its backhoes and other heavy equipment in Panama through TESA, made the case.

"We thing that Panama is very important," Zhu explained. "China's and Panama's relationship is growing more and more. A lot more businesses in China would like to come here and it would be easier if Panama dropped Taiwan and established full relations with us."

The company Zhu represents is in direct competition with Caterpillar and John Deere, and he says it's doing well against the established industry leaders. "Our products are very much cheaper than John Deere's or Caterpillar's --- Chinese work for low wages." He doesn't think that Chinese industrial wages will go up to North American, European or Japanese levels anytime in the foreseeable future.

In addition to Chinese industrial might, the expo showed off some of the paraphernalia of the world's most ancient living civilization. These are the subject of a photo feature in our arts section. Some companies with very modern names were selling unexpectedly traditional products. For example, Shandong's Funyao Automotive Glass Company was showing off combs, back scratchers and back massagers made of water buffalo horn. The woman working in the booth said that Chinese have long recognized the medicinal properties of water buffalo horns, contact with which is supposed to be good for blood circulation. The company is looking for a Panamanian distributor.

At the expo one could peruse water pumps, shoes, disposable surgical gowns and gloves, sewing machines, car parts and accessories, television sets, candles, tea, fine silk or inexpensive cotton clothing and artwork in many media. There were representatives of foundries and shipbuilders on hand. One could find locks, plumbing supplies or toys. Looking up at some of the video screens stationed strategically about the exhibition hall, it was easy to be impressed by China's top gymnasts and acrobats, or by its top chefs.

It was quite the show. Panama's diplomatic and political approaches to China may be debatable, but nobody can reasonably deny that the country is a major power in every sense. This is a giant that's not to be ignored.

This electric bicycle is made by the Tianjing Aofeiya Bicycle Company, goes 50 kilometers on a charge and sells for $230. The company doesn't have a distributor in Panama --- yet.

The biggest of this ceramics company's piggy banks costs $8, and they are on sale in Panamanian stores.