The Charlotte Chamber along with the Charlotte International Cabinet on behalf of Mayor Anthony Foxx hosted a Mayor’s Business Networking Reception on Thursday, November 17, at the Portman Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai, China, according to a press release dated November 18, 2011 (see:
http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/Newsroom/newsarchive/Pages/MayorsBusinessNetworkingReception.aspx).
The event, which was held during the last leg of the delegation’s ten-day trip to China, offered the opportunity for local business and state legislative leaders to showcase Charlotte while on foreign soil. With nearly 80 in attendance, the gathering also allowed for an exclusive opportunity to learn more about their Chinese counterparts in the business community.
“Our primary focus is to strengthen existing business relationships,” said Asian Chamber Economic Developer Eileen Cai, “while creating new ones to hopefully encourage greater economic development between the two countries…particularly in the energy sector.” The Mayor said.
Apart from all this good will, many people are wondering how much this trip cost? I called the Mayor's office and was given the run around in terms of how much this trip and luxury stay at one of China's most expensive luxury hotels is costing the taxpayers of Charlotte?
"It has to be in the tens of thousands of dollars", said Martin Vance of Charlotte. "Just one night at the Portman can cost you upwards to $700 per night or more." The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai is a luxurious 5-star hotel in Shanghai. Local tourist attractions such as Shanghai Acrobatic Theatre, Shanghai Exhibition Center and Jing'an are not far from the hotel. Also easily within reach are Jade Buddha Temple, Shanghai Grand Theater and Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Hall.
Others are questioning the rationale of promoting business with China, which has an abysmal record in term of human rights? China has also been criticized for unfair business practices.
David Zeiler writes: U.S. companies have become increasingly worried that unfair Chinese business practices are hurting their ability to compete and will start eating into the juicy profits they've been extracting from the Asian giant.
Problems with how China treats foreign businesses have been simmering for several years, but a recent incident with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has pulled those issues back into the spotlight.
Earlier this month the Chinese city of Chongqing forced Wal-Mart to close 13 of its stores for two weeks because officials said the retailer had mislabeled less expensive pork as a better organic type. The officials also fined Wal-Mart $423,000 and even arrested two employees.
This unusually severe response is not the first. Chinese authorities in May fined Unilever PLC (NYSE ADR: UL) more than $300,000 for announcing that it planned to raise prices - a move officials said undermined the government's attempts to control inflation. French-based Carrefour (PINK: CRRFY) was fined for posting erroneous prices.
Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) had a protracted battle with Chinese authorities last year over censorship of its search service. Google moved its search engine overseas in protest. Many analysts saw the incident as a way for the government to shepherd users toward domestic search giant Baidu Inc. (NYSE ADR: BIDU).
These penalties top years of unfair Chinese business practices that give advantages to state-owned businesses, including regulations that compel foreign companies to transfer their technology to Chinese firms and laws that weigh more heavily on foreign companies than domestic ones.
"If I were a foreign company, I'd be pretty scared right now," Corbett Wall, a retail expert who heads Shanghai consulting firm +CW Associates, told USA Today. "I absolutely think that [what happened to Wal-Mart] has to do with tensions building up between China and foreign companies", according to Money Morning (See article: "Unfair Chinese Business Practices Threaten Profits of U.S. Businesses" http://themarketoracle.biz/Article31164.html)
According to the 2011 annual survey of U.S. companies conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China (Amcham), a majority of U.S. businesses - 71% - said China's licensing process discriminates against foreign companies.
In addition, 40% said they thought the "indigenous innovation" policy - in which the Chinese government favors domestic companies over foreign ones in matters of official procurement - would hurt their business. More than one in four - 26% - said that policy already had hurt them.
CHINA'S ABOMINABLE HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD
Amnesty International has documented widespread human rights violations in China. An estimated 500,000 people are currently enduring punitive detention without charge or trial, and millions are unable to access the legal system to seek redress for their grievances. Harassment, surveillance, house arrest, and imprisonment of human rights defenders are on the rise, and censorship of the Internet and other media has grown. Repression of minority groups, including Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongolians, and of Falun Gong practitioners and Christians who practice their religion outside state-sanctioned churches continues. While the recent reinstatement of Supreme People's Court review of death penalty cases may result in lower numbers of executions, China remains the leading executioner in the world.
See also article: "China's human rights abuses worsen, group says" http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-03-03/news/28648655_1_rights-group-abuses-arbitrary-detention
"Why would Mayor Foxx go to China in light of the unfair business practices, human rights abuses?", said Anne Sander of Charlotte. "I don't understand all this?"
"Were broke as a city, should the Mayor be living large in China given the budget problem we have here?" said Ron Anders of Charlotte.
I checked into that and it is true the city's financial problems are pretty bad. The city of Charlotte projects it will have a modest budget shortfall of $5.4 million for upcoming fiscal year, which is about 1 percent of the general fund.
Mayor Anthony Foxx has said he supports a revenue-neutral budget, in part to give Mecklenburg County more "flexibility" in how it pays for schools and other social services. Foxx has said if the city held the line on tax collections, it could be easier for the county to "capture some of the (revaluation)." That means the county could lower or keep its tax rates the same, and still collect more money than it did last year.
Council member Edwin Peacock asked City Manager Curt Walton about a warning that the city's pay plan for police officers and fire fighters was unsustainable.
In fact late last year, a task force appointed by Foxx told city officials it could not keep paying public-safety employees with a 5 percent step and 3 percent cost-of-living raise, which is the city's official pay plan. The task force said that if the city continued to give those raises it would not have enough property tax revenue to pay for them. See article: "Charlotte's city budget gap may hit $5.4 million; 'departments are very tight' http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/02/01/2026559/charlottes-city-budget-gap-may.html#ixzz1eA2h4z8i
"Is it reasonable or rational the Mayor should be spending thousands on an expensive trip to one of the most brutal and closed regimes on earth, where you can get arrested for what you say online?" says, Mark Edwards of Charlotte, a retired school administrator. "I want to know how much this trip is costing us?" he said.
Calls to the Mayor’s office about the breakdown of the cost of the China trip were not returned at the time of publication of this story. I may have to do a more formal request in writing. I suspect however, the information will not be forth coming anytime soon.
I will keep readers informed of any changes.
Robert Tilford
Charlotte, N.C.
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