Newport Beach making Far East its business

Paul Clinton

A delegation of local businessmen and women headed to China today,

hoping to forge ties with a nation opening itself up to more trade

with the West.

For Dorothy Larson, the trip, sponsored by the Newport Beach

Chamber of Commerce, is an effort to explore whether business deals

can be struck in the future.

Larson runs a Newport Beach accounting practice, Larson and

Associates, where she prepares tax returns for Americans living in

foreign countries.

“We thought it sounded like a great business opportunity,” Larson

said about the trip. “The only realistic way to approach it is as an

exploratory trip to see what the opportunities might be.”

Larson, 50, said she is heading to the Asian nation to take in the

sights, but also hopes to get a better handle on the size of the

expatriate crowd there.

During their nine days, 130 local business leaders will stop in

Beijing, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai.

They have a string of meetings scheduled with the deputy mayor of

Beijing, Chinese business leaders and several other high-ranking

Chinese government officials, including members of the country’s

Administration of Foreign Trade and Economic Corporation.

Newport Coast businessman Leo Liu pitched the trip to the chamber.

Liu owns Citslinc International Inc., a company that works to develop

business partnerships to foster trade between the two countries.

Developing interpersonal relationships is the first step toward

that, Liu said.

“It’s important for people to know each other before anything

else,” Liu said. “Then you can talk business.”

Liu leads regular trips to a country he lived in until 1993, when

he moved to California. Prior to moving here, Liu ran China

International Travel Service, a government program. He has also

brought delegations of Chinese to Newport Beach.

A second trip is planned for March, said Richard Luehrs, chamber

executive director.

“The goal is to introduce cultures to one another, see if business

opportunities exist and tour the country,” Luehrs said of both trips.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment and politics. He may be

reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.