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China to build 5,000-acre logistics center in S.C.
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
China plans to build a 5,000-acre logistics center in South Carolina as part of a $100 million investment plan that could add 1,000 jobs and vastly increase the country’s commercial interests in the Palmetto State.
Zheng Zeguang, deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., said China’s Haier Group, a manufacturer of a wide range of household electrical appliances, has already invested $6 million to expand its refrigerator manufacturing facility in Camden’s Steeplechase Industrial Park.
During a visit to Camden last spring, China’s Vice Premier Wu Yi said the expansion represents the first phase of a $100 million, 1,000-job increase in China’s commercial interests here.
Although Zheng declined to comment on it, sources confirmed that the Chinese are looking for an additional 5,000 acres in the state to create a massive logistics center here.
“The future is bright,” was all Zheng would say about the potential for such a mammoth development. “I believe more Chinese companies will come your way.”
Zheng delivered a simple but seemingly urgent message to local business leaders during his visit to Benefitfocus’ headquarters on Daniel Island last week.
“Visit China, invest in China and tap into opportunities borne of the very real transformation that is occurring in my country,” Zheng told a gathering sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. He also told event attendees to foster and capitalize on the increase in Chinese investment here in the United States and in South Carolina.
Zheng’s visit to the Lowcountry came days before the start of the latest round of bilateral trade talks between the United States and China and the opening of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue on Dec. 12.
It also came at a time when the two nations’ political ties are being tested by lingering concerns that China’s currency policy is causing a massive, destabilizing trade surplus with the United States and about the safety of products shipped to the United States.
Chinese economic reform began in the late 1970s, and during the past 29 years, the nation’s economy has grown at an average rate of 9.6%. Last year, that growth rate jumped to 11.5%, and this year it’s poised to top 11.6%.
“Over the past five years, China and the United States have been the most powerful engines of economic growth in the world,” Zheng said. “And that growth has created a lot of opportunities for companies in the United States.”
The country, which Zheng described as Socialist rather than Communist, faces a dire shortage of clean, efficient energy. Approximately 74% of the energy used in China comes from coal, and that’s led to vast pollution problems in the urbanized sections of the country, Zheng said.
“We haven’t done a very good job protecting the environment,” he said. “We don’t have enough trees. Rivers are drying up, and people’s health is now an issue.”
Zheng said in the past, China emphasized the speed of economic development, but now it emphasizes the quality of that development.
“To meet our goals of continued growth, we’ve set a target of doubling our gross domestic product from the year 2000 to $5 trillion by 2020,” Zheng said. “But in doing that, we want to restructure our economy so that it’s more sustainable.”
Charleston Metro Chamber President and CEO Charles Van Rysselberge said he was honored to have played a part in Zheng’s visit.
“Given the tremendous growth of China’s economy and its place in the world, I believe this presentation was a vitally important one for our business community to hear,” Van Rysselberge said.
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@setcommedia.com.
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