Opinion: How to assure that China's rise does not come at Michigan's demise

China can and must be part of the ingredients necessary to reinvent and revitalize Michigan's economy.

Sadly, there is no such plan in Michigan today or the will at the highest levels to begin crafting one. This is unacceptable in a day and age when ideas and jobs can and do move across the globe effortlessly.

It is clear that when it comes to China, Michigan is like the proverbial nine blind men holding an elephant. Each individual describes the animal quite differently depending on the part he is holding. There is no shared vision, no overall direction, no common agenda.

It's high time Michigan's leaders stopped using China for division and subtraction and started developing a plan to assure that China's rise results in addition and multiplication of jobs in Michigan.

There was a time when what happened in China had minimal impact on our lives. Those days are gone. What happens in China no longer stays in China.

The Asian behemoth is underwriting U.S. debt to the tune of $1 trillion and growing, has the fastest-growing large economy in the world, is producing more autos than America, and is intent on winning the race for clean, alternative energy technology.

Since the opening of China to the world by Deng Xiaoping, the leader who followed Mao Zedong, China is a rising economic superpower. The Chinese economy has grown by double digits for the past 20 years and the auto market remains in its infancy with an enormous growth potential.

It all adds up to countless business opportunities in China for Michigan companies willing to be creative and innovative. Further, the Chinese will continue to seek places to invest throughout the world we should be bending over backwards to make Michigan a hospitable place for such investment.

State government has an important role to play, once it stops looking at China through a rearview mirror and recognizes the reality of the situation and the enormity of the opportunities.

The Chinese market, with 1.3 billion people and a rising middle class, is the mother lode of 21st century global commerce. More than 300 million Chinese people have risen out of poverty in the last quarter century.

Leadership At The Local Level

The county executives from Wayne and Oakland, Robert Ficano and L. Brooks Patterson, along with Paul Gieleghem, chairman of the Macomb County Board of Commissioners, together with Commissioner Ed Bruley, Ken Lampar and State Representative Fred Miller are doing their part to build bridges. The have organized multiple trade missions, set up offices in China and encouraged their local community schools to begin to offer Mandarin Chinese to their students.

What is missing is a comprehensive statewide initiative to tap this rich vein of potential investment in ways to create jobs for our citizens and assure China's rise does not come at our demise.

Action Steps


Here are some steps that could be taken to enable Michigan to tap the rich China vein:

1. First, drop the China rhetoric that is not conducive to building positive relationships (what the Chinese call “guanxi”), conclude China is not going away and ask how to make its rise work for our state.

2. Seek advice from knowledgeable individuals inside and outside Michigan on what other states and nations are doing that we should emulate and what is uniquely Michigan that the Chinese want or need.

3. Convene a cross section of Chinese American community leaders from such groups as the Chinese Association of Greater Detroit, Chinese American Association, Asian and Pacific Islanders Chamber of Commerce, and Detroit Chinese Business Association and ask how the state can leverage their existing China relationships.

4. Brainstorm with all the various China experts and pull together an action plan that can position Michigan to take full advantage of the continuing rise of China, with emphasis on economic, cultural, agricultural, tourism and education initiatives.

The China wave will continue to come, we can do nothing and be swamped -- or learn to surf and ride the wave.

Remember the ancient Chinese saying about beginning with a single step? It is time Michigan broke into a run.

Tom Watkins is a business and education consultant in the U.S. and China. He served as Michigan's state superintendent of schools, 2001-05. He can be reached at tdwatkins@aol.com.