"There
may be news from Aeros, a Tarzana blimp maker already established in
China. That company wants to sell more dirigibles to the authoritarian
Chinese government for police surveillance, among other uses."
China
Is Sold on Schwarzenegger
By Robert Salladay
Times Staff Writer
November 19, 2005
HONG KONG — Even in China, where local
Communist Party officials asked for his autograph, California Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger could not escape being master of a traveling celebrity
opera in which politics frequently gave way to simply being famous.
Schwarzenegger ended his six-day trade
mission to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong King on Saturday without any
substantial business agreements for California firms.
A Riverside County pump company could soon
have an announcement on expanding its China business. And there may be
news from Aeros, a Tarzana blimp maker already established here. That
company wants to sell more dirigibles to the authoritarian Chinese
government for police surveillance, among other uses.
But the governor's trade mission to China
mostly drew crowds of jostling paparazzi, government officials and
business executives there to see the Terminator.
Today, on the streets of Hong Kong, the trip
closed as it began six days ago: with a barely controlled mob scene as he
toured two markets. "You have never seen so many cameras," Schwarzenegger
said to a stunned-looking store manager as the crowd clamored for his
photograph or just a glimpse.
Combating the bootlegging of movies,
medicine and other American products meant standing in front of a
20-foot-high photograph of himself in leather pants and a black T-shirt.
It was the official unveiling of a new Hong Kong public service television
advertisement with action star Jackie Chan.
"You and I are on a mission to stop piracy….
Let's terminate it," Schwarzenegger says to Chan in the ad as they ride
motorcycles along a California street, swerving to avoid exploding,
toppling cars.
Schwarzenegger later announced that the ad —
directed by Jonathan Mostow, who also did "Terminator 3: Rise of the
Machines" — would be viewed by 1 billion people. In fact, aides explained,
that was wishful thinking: The Chinese government has yet to approve its
showing outside of Hong Kong, Macao and a few satellite services.
The night before, on the second anniversary
of his inauguration, an elaborate reception at the Shanghai Art Museum
featured a slick video of Schwarzenegger "selling California." It started
with a clip from NBC's "Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on which he announced
his decision to run for governor.
Outside, paparazzi and Chinese television
reporters lined up along a red carpet for the premier of "Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire," the first showing in China before it inevitably winds
up as a pirated DVD. Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, were the
only people to walk the carpet.
The governor is well aware that his
celebrity status can become the dominant paradigm in any situation. He's
counting on it. He sees his notoriety as his most potent asset in bringing
people together, closing deals and energizing politics.
"In my case, the show comes automatically,"
Schwarzenegger said in an interview here. "That gives me much more power
of influence to get results."
But behind the scenes throughout the trip to
China, Schwarzenegger's aides have scrambled to find deals for California
companies to announce.
Schwarzenegger himself declared before
returning home that the trip "was about substance," but his aides said
only that ground had been broken on a few small deals.
Mark Mosher, executive director of the
California Commission for Jobs and the Economy, which organized the trip,
said a photo op between the governor and executives from two Shanghai
companies led to possible agreements to build small manufacturing
facilities at Tejon Ranch north of Los Angeles.
Tejon Ranch is a "free trade zone" that
allows foreign companies to get a foothold in the U.S. and receive tariff
reductions on exports in exchange. Mosher said the deals could lead to 500
light manufacturing jobs in California.
"We're hoping we push them over the top,"
Mosher said.
Not that the 80 or so business executives on
the Schwarzenegger trip were disappointed about the lack of flashy deals.
Most said they had realistic goals about how much they could increase the
estimated $7 billion in goods that already flow from California to China
every year.
Robert P. Koch, the brother-in-law of
President Bush and chief executive of the Wine Institute of California,
said he got a "much better understanding of the potential market for us"
while traveling with the governor. Looking relaxed and prosperous, Koch
sipped wine as he made his way around the Shanghai art gallery reception.
"This is going to take time," said Koch, who
is married to the president's sister, Dorothy Bush Koch. "Interestingly, a
healthy percentage of the Chinese people don't even know California makes
wine. It's a long-term process as it relates to China."
Other California executives said they were
happy that Schwarzenegger's celebrity opened doors in China. Janet Lamkin,
president of the California Bankers Assn., said she sat down with about 15
executives from Chinese banks in a private round table to discuss
liberalization of banking laws; Schwarzenegger stopped by.
"It would take us an enormous amount of time
and legwork to put that together, if we even could put it together,"
Lamkin said. She said the meeting laid the groundwork for cross-bank
deals.
Schwarzenegger traveled through China by
private jet, carrying an entourage of at least 50 staff members and
bodyguards. He made his way through Shanghai and Beijing in a fleet of
Cadillac Escalades. He stayed at the finest hotels, including the
Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai.
The trip, estimated to have cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars, was paid for by corporate donations to four funds.
The Schwarzenegger-Chan public service ad was paid for with about $120,000
from the Hong Kong government and in-kind donations from Universal
Studios. A final accounting is expected to be available after the mission,
administration officials said.
Along the way, it was clear Schwarzenegger
had a difficult path to tread despite his skills as a salesman. The
governor said he noticed that "even among our own trade mission, people
have been going to the shops and buying" fake American products that are
so easy to find, among them handbags and clothing.
In Beijing, Schwarzenegger and Shriver
attended another lavish reception to highlight products from California,
particularly luxury goods for a new group of middle-class and wealthy
Chinese. As the cameras snapped, the celebrity couple emerged on stage
from a "made in California" cargo crate and then watched a fashion show.
In an interview before the show, Max Azria,
a prominent designer from Los Angeles, said he wasn't worried about copies
of his designs, saying they would mean he is successful: "If they don't
knock you off, it means you're no good."
And jewelry and fashion designer Chan Luu,
also from Los Angeles, described being ripped off as "part of our
business. So you move on. Knock offs are very flattering."
In a speech to the American Chamber of
Commerce in Hong Kong, Schwarzenegger estimated that $250 billion in U.S.
goods are ripped off every year. "You are not going to erase the problem
one year to the next," Schwarzenegger acknowledged. "But if you just
eliminate 5%, that is a huge amount of money."
Despite the celebrity nature of his trip,
California politics still followed Schwarzenegger to China. At the
unveiling of the Schwarzenegger-Chan public service ad, moderator Bernard
Lo of Bloomberg TV told the governor: "Maybe you can take Jackie with you
next time you take a referendum to California voters."
Some in the audience gasped. Others laughed.
The governor simply smiled.
Throughout the trip, Schwarzenegger
maintained that his personality could sell anything, even though he wasn't
so successful during the special election last week.
"If we can have as much success with our
trade mission as I have had in the past with the movie business,"
Schwarzenegger said in Hong Kong, "then we should be quite successful."
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Business Development Manager
Tel. 818 344-3999 x 106
Edward@AerosML.com
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