Introduction
It's a great pleasure to be here with you today to launch the East Asia Analytical Unit's Overseas Chinese Business Networks Study
- and very gratifying to me as Trade Minister to see such strong interest in the launch of an initiative aimed at improving our trade and investment links with Asia
: an initiative which will deepen our understanding of doing business in Asia
: and the role the Australian Chinese business community plays in strengthening Australia's commercial integration with Asia.
Playing to our strengths
Earlier this year, in talking about contemporary Australia, the Prime Minister used the analogy of a Chinese wok in which, as he put it, "all the ingredients retain their own distinct identity but become part of a harmonious and balanced whole"
- and he distinguished this from the older image of a cultural "melting pot"
I think that's a very useful analogy
- and it's certainly the case that the emerging mix of ingredients in our "cuisine" is, more and more, being reflected in the way we do business.
Against the background of an Australian society that has become far more culturally diverse, the Australian business community has been enriched with the dynamism and entrepreneurial skills of the societies of East Asia.
That gives us great competitive advantage in the globally diverse market place
- it provides most valuable links, be they personal or in the form of cultural affinities and understanding, to our major markets
- together with linguistic skills, cultural knowledge, business contacts and market intelligence that offer new ways to increase our business participation in East Asia.
It's important, because business always needs to be one step ahead of the international trading game
- and making the best use of these diverse skills is a way for Australia to be more effective in overseas markets.
It is a lesson the Australian Government has taken to heart in developing a range of programs aimed at helping Australian business take best advantage of the productive diversity that a multicultural society offers
- such as Austrade's Ethnic and Indigenous Exporter Program to ensure that Austrade's regular services are made known to and used by ethnic and indigenous groups, through
: improved communication abilities at the level of client contact
: and efforts to meet the requirements of traders - and not just manufacturers - who make up the bulk of Austrade's contact with ethnic communities.
Also, business can access a national database of the ethnic business networks - including the Chinese - which operate in Australia.
The database is the result of a study conducted for the Government late last year by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The study found that Australia has more than 170 bilateral associations which cover 58 countries.
Most of them are open associations of overseas-born, experienced business people and Australian-born business people with a mutual interest in expanding trade between Australia and another country.
Overseas Chinese success
A recurring theme which you would undoubtedly have heard during the seminar this morning is the commercial significance of Chinese business networks in our region
- about the contribution ethnic Chinese business people are making to the extraordinary and sustained economic growth rates of East Asia
: and the rapid expansion of trade and investment
: despite the fact that ethnic Chinese make up only around six per cent of the population of Southeast Asia.
Their commercial power, their distribution across most of the markets to our north, and the borderless networks between them mean that when Australian companies do business in Asia they will almost invariably come into contact with overseas Chinese entrepreneurs.
And that means it's imperative that we have a better understanding of - and integrate more fully with - overseas Chinese business networks.
The Australian Chinese business community
All this has particular significance for the role of Australian business people of Chinese background.
For well over 100 years since the Gold Rush period, and even before that, ethnic Chinese have played an important role in Australia's growth.
And from that very early period emerged the well-known Australian expression, "fair dinkum", an expression which appears to have come from a Chinese source
- because "ding kum" appears to be a corruption of the Cantonese for "true gold"
- just one early sign of a process of blending of European culture with some aspects of Asian culture that continues to this day
: a synthesis which is producing a unique mainstream Australian culture.
Australian Chinese now make up one of the largest ethnic communities in Australia, accounting for some 300,000 people.
That community is also, in itself, one of the most diverse in Australia, having been added to recently with substantial numbers from Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan and China itself
- and smaller, though still significant numbers from Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea
: adding many different Chinese dialects and sub-dialects to the community.
The richness and diversity of Australia's Chinese community has given it a myriad of connections across Asia.
In much of Asia there is a greater emphasis placed on personal connections in business than is usually the case in Australia
- there is a much greater emphasis on "know who" as opposed to "know-how"
: and, as such, Australia's Chinese community with its business skills and connections represents a very significant national asset.
For Australian businesses, often the search for the key to open doors in Asia can begin right here.
The matching up of Australian Chinese and non-Chinese businesses for their mutual advantage was a theme of one of the presentations this morning.
The case of Townsend Chemicals is particularly impressive
- a medium-sized enterprise, employing 30 people at its Dandenong site
: which has developed a strategy of identifying the overseas markets it wants to penetrate with its products, then linking up with business members of the relevant community here in Melbourne
such as the Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese communities
to achieve export sales it would otherwise not have had.
We have around 775,000 small and medium sized businesses in the private non-agricultural sector - companies like Townsend Chemicals.
Small and medium sized businesses employ over three million people
- of which about 4,500 are now internationally active on a regular basis
: and another 10,000 or so are involved in export on an irregular basis.
It's vitally important for the national economy that as many firms as possible reach their full potential and compete effectively for markets abroad.
The example set by Townsend Chemicals shows one innovative way in which this is possible - an example which I hope will be followed more widely.
So where do non-Chinese firms meet up with Australian Chinese firms?
- right here, now, today, is one possibility
: or through one of around 200 Chinese organisations around the country, many of which are business-focused
and many of which accept non-ethnic Chinese as members or as associate members.
The East Asia Analytical Unit
Before I conclude I would like to speak a little about my Department's East Asia Analytical Unit, which prepared this report.
The Unit is the Government's foremost think-tank on Asian economic matters.
It has produced 11 major studies since its establishment in 1991
- this is, in fact, the fifth I have launched, so I'm getting pretty practiced in the job
- and there are no fewer than another seven under way.
The studies are aimed to inform the Australian community - both business and government audiences - about developments and emerging opportunities in Asia.
To date, almost 14,000 copies of the Unit's reports have been sold
- they've been tabled in the Federal Parliament
- they are widely distributed overseas
: in fact, several have been summarised into various Asian languages, and two, the report on Indonesia and the report on "Grain in China" have been fully translated into Indonesian and Chinese respectively
- and, if I may put in the obligatory plug, you'll find them in good bookshops around Australia.
While on this subject, I would like to pay tribute to Dr Meredith Borthwick, a former head of the unit who, very sadly, passed away last month.
Meredith played a major role in many of the unit's reports, including the one I am launching today.
She was the principal instigator of the unit's India study (India's Economy at the Midnight Hour: Australia's India Strategy)
- which has been described by one very senior Indian official as the best-ever account of India's economy.
- she was one of Australia's main negotiators at GATT in Geneva
- and, without doubt, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's premier Thai linguist
: so much so, that when she accompanied the Prime Minister on his recent trip to Thailand as interpreter, in a meeting between Mr Keating and the then Prime Minister of Thailand, Chuan Leekpai, Chuan stopped proceedings to have a chat with Meredith to find out how she had mastered such excellent Thai, and Mr Keating was none the wiser!
She will be greatly missed.
Conclusion
The message I wanted to leave with you today is, in fact, a very simple one
- that is, the importance of fostering linkages with overseas Chinese business networks
- and the opportunities to do so offered by Australia's own ethnic Chinese community.
That message holds great importance for Australia.
I congratulate the East Asia Analytical Unit on having prepared such a comprehensive, readable and useful study on this subject
- and I commend it to you.
Thank you