VZCZCXRO0108
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGH #0450/01 2950435
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210435Z OCT 08
FM AMCONSUL SHANGHAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7262
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 2215
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 1477
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 1485
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 1456
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 1641
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 1279
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 7854

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SHANGHAI 000450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/OCEA, MELCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EINV PGOV PREL ETRD ECON SOCI CH
SUBJECT: STONES FROM OTHER HILLS SERVE TO POLISH THE JADE:  SUZHOU'S 
CONSULTATION MEETING WITH FOREIGN DIPLOMATS AND BUSINESS 
REPRESENTATIVES 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: Suzhou Mayor Yan Li invited Shanghai-based 
diplomats, business people and sister city reps to a two-day 
event Sept. 26-27 showcasing the city as a model of 
investment-friendly and harmonious development.  Although billed 
as a an opportunity for the city to seek advice from outside 
("stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade from this 
hill"), the event served as a more lavish version of the sales 
pitch tour that ambitious East China cities regularly bring to 
Shanghai-based consulates and businesses.  Now in its third 
year, the Suzhou consultation format appears to have taken its 
cue from Shanghai's International Business Leaders Advisory 
Committee, which will convene its 20th annual meeting in 
November.   End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  Famous in Chinese history for its classical gardens, 
Suzhou is today a city of 6.25 million inhabitants and site of 
the largest industrial parks in Jiangsu Province.   Sister 
cities include Venice, which presented a gondola as a gift to 
Suzhou, as well as Constance, Germany and Portland, Oregon. 
During the core Consultation Meeting attended by over 100 
invitees, including the Consul General and Conoff, topics 
included sustainable development, education, expanding 
international cooperation, development of the service industry, 
and the making the local economy to resource efficient and 
environmentally friendly.  The mayor's keynote speech emphasized 
that China requires a concerted strategy of sustainable 
development in order to maintain current growth rates.  He 
identified several threats to growth, including a burgeoning 
population, influx of laborers from the countryside, and 
environmental deterioration.  Quoting a U.S. scholar that 
"growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer," the 
mayor highlighted the costs of economic growth, including 
resource exhaustion and environmental pollution. 
 
¶3.  (U) The mayor presented several policies designed to 
confront these challenges, primarily the development of the 
service sector as the city's foremost growth engine.  Noting 
that the service sector compromises 34.6% of Suzhou's GDP, Mayor 
Yan hoped to reduce the dominance of the manufacturing sector by 
continuing to focus energy toward developing service industries 
and moving toward technology and knowledge intensive industries. 
 This strategy includes the development of modern and efficient 
agriculture production methods, the growth of R&D centers, as 
well as the stimulation of domestic consumption and tourism. 
The mayor noted that population policies must be in line with 
economic and social policies, and that a "deepening 
urbanization" should be encouraged to improve economies of 
scale.  He also stated that "overall population growth should be 
strictly controlled by strengthening the management of migrants 
and the entry of registered residence." 
 
¶4.  (U) Foreign speakers included representatives from Germany, 
Italy, AIA, Porsche, several companies based at the Suzhou 
Industrial Park, and Amcham China.  Additional foreign speakers 
took the stage during the scheduled half-hour "brainstorming" 
session, continuing with the earlier themes.  In his remarks, 
Beijing-based Amcham China President Michael Barbalas, a former 
resident and now honorary citizen of Suzhou, said that the 
economic slowdown in the United States and the corresponding 
reduction in international trade will present challenges for 
Suzhou's economy.  However, a recent Amcham survey showed that 
over 89% of US business leaders remain optimistic about the 
future of their businesses in China.  With Suzhou's 
well-developed infrastructure and close proximity to Shanghai, 
Barbalas predicted that U.S. companies who are scaling down 
their investments and activities in the U.S. will continue 
expanding aggressively in China.  (FYI:  The Shanghai Amcham has 
several hundred members based in Suzhou.  End FYI.) 
 
¶5.  (U)  Attendees were also invited to tour the China-Singapore 
Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), the largest industrial park in 
Jiangsu Province.  SIP was created in 1994 via an agreement 
signed by Chinese Vice Premier Li Lanqing and Singapore Senior 
Minister Lee Kuan Yew.  As of year-end 2007, SIP was home to 
3107 foreign-invested enterprises with accumulated contracted 
investments valued at US$31.7 billion.  Investments by U.S. 
companies accounted for 12.4% or $3.93 billion.  SIP creates 15% 
of Suzhou's GDP. 
 
¶6.  (U) Comment:  Suzhou's lavish and well-organized 
consultation meeting presented an attractive vision of 
sustainable development and efforts to move toward a resource 
efficient economy.  Having reportedly learned from an earlier 
 
SHANGHAI 00000450  002 OF 002 
 
 
year's meeting that brainstorming can get out of hand, the 
prudent organizers opted to fill that segment of the schedule 
with more set speeches.   Suzhou nevertheless managed to hit the 
right buttons with a tour of the huge industrial park, speeches 
about environmental protection, a tree planting ceremony, and a 
mayor and party secretary who personally greeted all the guests 
at the evening reception. 
CAMP