China and Washington
State's largest timber company signed a forestry agreement on
Friday that Governor Gary Locke hopes will lead to closer trade
ties.
Jiang Zehui, president
of the Chinese
Academy of Forestry, and Steve Rogel, chairman, president and
chief operating officer of the Weyerhaeuser Co, agreed to
collaborate on forestry research and environmental
restoration.
Locke, the son of
Chinese immigrants, signed the agreement as a witness in Olympia,
the Washington State capital.
The pact was the result
of talks in China spurred by Locke's visit to Beijing and Shanghai
last month.
"This is great news for
Weyerhaeuser, for China and for Washington State," Locke
said.
The "new era of
cooperation and teamwork" will help China reforest broad areas of
its countryside, improve the environment and potentially lead to a
lucrative trade relationship, the governor said.
He called Weyerhaeuser
"the worldwide leader in forestry" and a natural partner for
China.
Jiang said Washington
companies have flourished in China ever since the country "opened
its doors to the outside" in the 1970s.
Weyerhaeuser, Boeing and
Microsoft are all household names in China, she said, adding that
her favorite forestry professor was educated at the University of
Washington.
"Enhanced collaboration"
will help both countries, Jiang said.
Weyerhaeuser has
container plants in Shanghai and Wuhan that provide packaging for
Coca Cola, Budweiser and other Western products that are marketed
there. China also imports bleached pulp, such as that used for milk
cartons, as well as recycled paper and other company
products.
Besides boosting its
share of China's growing market, Weyerhaeuser may get contracts to
help with reforestation and to grow eucalyptus forests, Rogel
said.
Under the agreement,
China and Weyerhaeuser will:
- Collaborate on forest
management, wood technology and silviculture, including methods of
fertilizing, pruning and thinning.
- Research opportunities
for eucalyptus forests in southern China, including possible uses
for the wood. Weyerhaeuser already has eucalyptus forests in
Uruguay.
- Cooperate on product
development and market assessment.
- Develop ways to reduce
sedimentation and improve water quality in China's
forests.
Locke said China faces
"a tremendous challenge" in reforesting massive areas of the
country, and developing new forests.
China is the US's
second-largest export market, after Japan, with over US$3.5 billion
in state imports to China recorded last year. A recent state study
ranked China the No. 1 future market for Washington.
Weyerhaeuser had US$18.5
billion in sales last year, manages 42 million acres of forest,
employs 57,000 people and plants over 140 million trees a year,
according to the firm.
After the United States
normalized trade relations with China in 1972, Weyerhaeuser was the
only US forest products company invited to the Canton Trade Fair.
The company opened an office in Beijing in 1984.
(Eastday.com November 3,
2003)