Head of Canada's largest trade and industry organization on Thursday urged the country's business community to lose no time in entering the lucrative Chinese market.

Perrin Beatty, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) said many Canadian businesses see the rising China as a huge challenge -- the land of outsourced Canadian production, but with a population of over 1.3 billion, the Asian giant represents a potentially colossal market for Canadian companies.

"It all depends on whether you consider the glass is half-full or half-empty."

He was speaking to about 200 parliamentarians and business representatives at a breakfast briefing on the Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

"CME believes it is half-full, and with some imagination and hard work on our part, we can fill it the rest of the way," Beatty said.

The event, co-hosted by Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in Canada and Hong Kong Canada Business Association, aimed to let the Canadian decision makers to know more about the latest development in China, and how Canadian companies can participate in it through a very user-friendly platform -- Hong Kong.

Delivering a 17-page keynote speech, Beatty urged the country's business community to fully utilize the close economic and social ties between Canada and Hong Kong to break into the lucrative Chinese market.

The emerging economic powerhouse has a "voracious appetite for almost everything", he said.

The former government minister noted that in North America, business people and policy-makers were less certain of the impact, " For many, the threat of China obscures the opportunities the country presents."

It would be foolish to pretend that China is not already a powerful competitor, one that will become more formidable in the future, he said."But forward-looking manufacturers believe that it is possible to see China as a competitor, as a partner and as a customer."

To this end, he asked Canadians to think over what Jim Owens, Chief Executive Officer of Caterpillar, recently proposed to Americans in competing with China, namely enhancing technological knowledge and skills, becoming more customized and service oriented and increasingly integrated  in international markets and global supply chains.

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