THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9411300115
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
China Market USA, which opened Monday, might be an awakening giant in Portsmouth.
Although the potential for this new venture has not yet penetrated the public's consciousness, the future might be right there in that big old barn of a building vacated years ago by Robert Hall Village on Airline Boulevard.
With a mere handful of businesses up and running, the import-export center already has a vibrance about it.
The investment in the project has been large (about $6 million) and those involved seem committed to the future.
Tom McCandlish, a Richmond lawyer who travels so often to China that he has business cards printed in Chinese, said the people he knows in China are extremely interested in the market.
It's important to them, he said, and they are very aware of it.
McCandlish's firm is working with the center to help Chinese companies jump through the hoops of securing visas.
Each company that has opened here has made a serious investment. Each is an incorporated U.S. business with a Portsmouth address.
As one of the young company representatives said last week, it's a very expensive venture for them. Because of government restrictions, they must have a place of business before they secure a visa. Some companies have been paying for space in China Market for a year. Others awaiting visas already have an empty office-showroom here.
These are not fly-by-night merchants. Rather, they are serious people on the cutting edge.
When they talk of trade between the United States and China, they talk in terms of $100 billion a year - half of it in exports and half in imports. A large portion of that trade could pass through here. That's what those who finance the businesses are banking on.
China Market still has a way to go, but Monday's official opening signaled a major milestone for a project several years in the making. Much of the spadework now has been accomplished.
The center adds a new dimension to Portsmouth, just as the Swedish company, Lindab, added when it opened last year in the former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Airline Boulevard.
Let's hope we can build on that base and get more foreign investment by people who see the potential of Portsmouth - and who see the merit of refurbishing a good, solid previously owned building.
Portsmouth is in the center of the East Coast on a major port and surrounded by interstates. It is a wonderful place to live and work, contrary to the distorted notions of some of our neighbors. One of the best ways we have to overcome that strange phenomenon is to become a thriving cosmopolitan small city.
China Market is another step in that process. It's beginning to wake up, getting ready for a new day in U.S.-China trade.
It's a long way from the ornate Chinese junk that plied the riverfront cities around here, docking at the foot of Downtown in the 1930s. Little school kids paid a nickel to go aboard and gaze at exotic ivory, jade and bamboo objects. Those lucky enough to have an extra penny or two could purchase a souvenir, most likely a tiny paper and bamboo umbrella.
For a long time, I treasured the old Chinese coin I traded for aboard the junk. That coin was a symbol of another era in relations between China and the United States.
Now I have a baseball cap and a T-shirt from China Market USA, the symbol of a new day in world trade and perhaps a new page in Portsmouth's history as a seaport. ILLUSTRATION: WHAT DO YOU THINK?
The Currents in interested in your thoughts, comments and/or
suggestions on the 10-year master plan as proposed by consultant Ray
Gindroz. You can call us at INFOLINE - 640-5555, then push IDEA
(4332); write us at 307 County St., Suite 100, Portsmouth, Va.
23704; or fax us at 446-2607. We will need your name, address and
telephone number for the sake of verification. We will begin
publication of your comments next Sunday.
by CNB