Despite the fact that China is increasingly in the global spotlight as it takes its place in the world economy, the country is still a relatively small player in the Washington-area economy, officials in the local business community say.
“There’s a lot of romantic talk of China,” said Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission. “But realistically speaking, the Chinese … won’t be a dominant force for some time.”
The West Coast, with its closer proximity to Asia, has done more business with the country, Morici said, but the Washington region’s rapidly growing high-tech industry will eventually attract Chinese business.
“We have the technology China wants,” he said, “but for the foreseeable future, China is going to be a consumer of American technology and not the reverse.”
China’s economic policies are expected to be a topic of discussion during President Bush’s scheduled meeting today with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Many critics charge that China has undervalued its currency, a move that hurts U.S. competition and contributed to a record $202 billion trade deficit with China last year.
The trade deficit reflects the fact that many locally based companies have set up operations in China in the past five years, but few Chinese companies have offices here.
Of some 144 locally based companies with overseas operations, 23 percent have offices in China, according to a recent report by the Greater Washington Initiative. But European countries are still the Washington region’s biggest business partner, and most of the initiative’s marketing efforts remain concentrated there, said Tim Priest, executive director for the Greater Washington Initiative.
“It’s a huge economy and there’s no question that our companies have seen opportunities and are going to take advantage of that,” Priest said. “We just don’t know when the reverse will happen.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
