A group of business leaders from renewable energy companies will visit the United States， on a fact-finding trip， in the first half of 2011， a US commerce official said during the wind power section at the China-US Renewable Energy Investment Forum in December 2010. “I believe the trip will help the Chinese companies immensely. They will get to know where their advantages are and how to start their business，”said Bryan D. Larson， first secretary for Commercial Affairs of the US Department of Commerce.However， meanwhile in December 2010， U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that the United States has requested consultations with the People’s Republic of China under the dispute settlement provisions of the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning a program known as the Special Fund for Wind Power Manufacturing.On one hand is the dispute going， on the other is the business cooperation running as a rule.Dispute not in the interest of the Americans“Although the Obama Administration filed a wind-turbine complaint with the World Trade Organization， no U.S. company joined to defend itself.”…“G.E.’s Immelt was gung-ho for trade with China in 2002. He then told G.E. managers: ‘I talk China， China， China， China， China. You need to be there. I am a nut on China.’ But G.E. got only half the China market that Immelt was counting onm，” wrote Mrs. Schlafly， the founder and president of Eagle Forum in the US in her article Reevaluating Free Trade with China. She had meant to blame the American company for having no consciousness of defending their interest or the interest of the country but on the contrary re- vealed one fact that what the American government claimed hurt was not so concerned by the businesses.What the businesses saw was the business opportunity， the huge market in China and benefit won through cooperation with Chinese Companies.“While proponents say the Chinese manufacturers should be welcomed as an engine for creating more green jobs and speeding the adoption of renewable energy in this country， …” New York Times article China’s Push Into Wind Worries U.S. Industry also had such a statement. According to the same article，“Goldwind is going to build an organic， North American organization，” said Mr. Rowland， a Texas native and former engineer at the Boston-based wind farm developer First Wind. “So the opportunity to work with them — and with folks I’ve known for a long time — was really attractive.”Goldwind， which set up a sales office in Chicago， has hired about a dozen executives， engineers and other employees so far. Most are Americans already experienced in the wind energy field.It is revealed by Yao Yu， press spokesman of Gold Wind Science and Technology on December 24 that Tian Run Shady Oaks LLC， Gold Wind’s wholly-owned subsidies won a bidding of wind farm project in the US in December 2010， and planned to invest US$ 198 million and complete the project within 2 years. In addition， Gold Wind also functioned as the power plant. The bidding inviter was the Illinois Power Agency. Tian Run Shady Oaks will have 100% controlling right of the Shady Oaks Wind Farm， which will provide IPA with 20 years of electricity. Tian Run Shady Oaks LLC would be in charge of the investment and construction(including equipment purchase)of this wind farm.Undoubtedly this project will not only provide green jobs， but also increase the adoption of renewable energy in Illinois， which is in the interest of the US.Only cooperation beneficial both for the US and ChinaConcerning the US launched 301 investigation to China’s clean energy policy， Wan Jifei， President of China Chamber of International Commerce(CCOIC) wrote a letter on November 17 to the American trade representative Kirk， pointed out that the trade issues between China and the US was never able to be solved through simple sanction and hoped the US government would not neglect the breath and huge potential of Sino-US new energy cooperation. He pointed in the letter that China has carried out close cooperation with the states and enterprises in the US in the new and clean energy fields. These cooperation effectively promote the American companies’ export to China. Many business leaders in China and the US all believed that the development of the US new energy companies can not be achieved without taking advantage of the capital of Chinese investors and huge market in China.At the December 14-15 meetings of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT)， USTR was able to address one highly problem- atic Chinese policy measure negatively affecting U.S. firms in China’s wind sector. Going forward， China agreed to modify its criteria for approval of new wind power projects by no longer requiring foreign enterprises to have prior experience supplying equipment to large-scale wind power projects in China and instead will recognize their prior experience outside China. Through the JCCT， China also reconfirmed its 2009 JCCT commitment that it had eliminated other discriminatory provisions related to local content requirements in the wind manufacturing sector.China has really created favorable environment for the US companies， and there was no excuse for com- plaining any more. Now as the reporter learned， many American companies were planning to set up their factories in China. Joseph Bach，Co-Founder and VP of Technology Development， Sunpreme， Inc.， a solar panel company， told the reporter that the company was planning to set up a factory in Nantong， Jiangsu for the favorable policy and investment environment there. “We have technologies， their technologies， I mean， most of Chinese companies， their technology is lagging behind， which would produce pollutions. But ours will not. So we have advantages here.”While at the China-US Renewable Energy Investment Forum， Han Liangjun， president of Sinovel Wind， said it was considering investment in wind projects there but looking for a US partner is the first step. Han also said the energy capacity the company hopes to establish in the US will be at least 500，000 kilowatt (kW) if they can find a suitable project.Yin Xiao， director of the economic cooperation office at the International Department in CGC， said the company may invest about $400 million to build up a wind power project with 200，000 kW capacities in the US.“Don’t exaggerate the trade dispute. Actually dispute is normal and the Sino-US trade dispute only accounted for 3% to 4% of the US’ trade dispute. Yes， there are really some problems such as the IPR issue and technology sharing etc. To solve problems through WTO mechanism is a normal way. Sometimes， countries have to solve problems and disputes through this mechanism， and China should， too. However， cooperation is still the trend and will benefit the companies in our two countries. We will try our best to promote the business cooperation and exchange between the companies of China and the US.” Robert Poole， Vice President of US-China Business Council， told the reporter.Wan Jifei， in his letter to Kirk， mentioned that now 50% raw materials for solar cells used in China was imported from abroad， of which a half from the US. And 60%-70% of solar cell producing equipment in China was also imported， and most imported from the US. He said that the American government should strongly encourage and promote the development of its new energy industry， improving the competitiveness of its new energy enterprises and helping the American exporters in this line to find Chinese buyers through the business associations including CCOIC， but not just use large amounts of money of the taxpayers to investigate or impose sanctions on companies of other countries instead.
