State to Open Trade Office in Hong Kong

Gov. George Deukmejian, in a continuing effort to raise California’s business profile in the Pacific Rim, announced plans Tuesday for the opening in Hong Kong of a second Asian trade and investment office.

The governor said Hong Kong was selected over several other sites because of its strategic location “at the crossroads of trade and commerce with ASEAN (Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations) countries of Southeast Asia, Taiwan and the 1.1 billion people of China.”

“Hong Kong is one of the world’s premier industrial business centers,” he said. “When we establish this office early in next year, I am confident that, combined with our well-established Tokyo office, California will be able to raise its business profile in the Pacific Rim to unprecedented heights.”

Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown of San Francisco threatened last week to strip money for Deukmejian’s trade offices from the budget as a means of forcing the Republican governor to either approve a tax increase or to be more flexible on other contested budget issues.

Deukmejian chose to make the announcement before about 200 business leaders attending the annual meeting of the Council for International Trade.

Afterward, he said he believed that the transition of power in Hong Kong in 1997 would have no bearing on the operation of the California trade office. At the end of this century, Hong Kong, a British colony, reverts to Chinese sovereignty.

“Naturally we’re all going to have to wait and see how that unfolds, but from every indication, there is more and more activity these days in Hong Kong,” he said. “There is an expansion of commercial ties in that area of the world, and I think that many countries have concluded it will be an excellent entree into China.”

In a relaxed and jovial mood, Deukmejian peppered his speech with light asides, as he jested about his plans to leave office at the end of this term. Referring to the tendency of former officeholders to join the paid lecture circuit and write books, he told his audience in mock seriousness that this may be one of their last opportunities to listen to a Deukmejian speech “for free.”

“And you don’t even have to buy a book,” he quipped.

However, the governor intends to collect a $1,000 honorarium for a speech Thursday night at Claremont College, a spokesman said.

Deukmejian used the San Francisco speech as an opportunity to tout the efforts of his Administration to promote California’s trade with foreign nations and to lecture on the need for the state to continue to be a player in the international market.

“For a growing state like ours, trade is no longer a luxury but a necessity,” he said.

Like the four other trade offices that have been established during his term, Deukmejian said the new trade office would promote California products and respond to inquiries from foreign businesses about specific trade opportunities. In addition to a trade office in Tokyo, the state has offices in London and Mexico City and has one planned for Frankfurt, West Germany.

Jim Robinson, the governor’s special assistant for trade, estimated that it would cost about $200,000 for the first year to open and staff the new office.

The governor’s announcement followed by one day a move by three Democratic leaders--U. S. Sen. Alan Cranston, Rep. Mel Levine of Santa Monica and Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy--to create a task force to make proposals for strengthening California’s trade ties with the Pacific Rim.

Deukmejian said that while he welcomed any effort to promote trade, he was puzzled by the plans for more studies.

“We have sort of already gone beyond the study stage, and we are now implementing the results of the findings that we have made in the past,” he said. “We’re already into this whole effort 100%.”