CEO says China, US need better ties in 'third industrial revolution'

Some are calling it part of the "the third industrial revolution", and to Raymond Cheng, CEO of SoZo Group investment-consulting company, 3-D printing is helping drive a renaissance in manufacturing that exemplifies the need for China and the US to have good relations.

3-D printing is a burgeoning industry that uses computer-generated digital models to create real-world 3-D solid objects, whether it's figurines for a chess game, transparent Invisalign braces or something more complex like a clock.

"It's a big deal right now anywhere in the world, ever since President [Barack] Obama announced in his State of the Union address that 3-D printing could change the entire world of manufacturing," Cheng said. "China, being the world's largest manufacturer in output, is very keen on understanding where 3-D printing is heading and how it would either help or displace the current manufacturing industry in China."

Although the US trails China in manufacturing output, Cheng said the US has only 12 million people in manufacturing and China has 110 million, which he said means that the US is actually 10 times more productive.

"The US still leads in innovation, still leads in technology and is still the world's largest market," Cheng said. "China needs the US market, it fundamentally needs the US technology and practices."

The meetings this week in California between US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are "absolutely timely," said Cheng, who hopes the two will "set the stage for the next phase of growth, set the stage for how each other should work with each other, and set the stage for making things better for each other."

Cheng's company, which has offices in Hong Kong and Birmingham, Alabama, seeks to build business bridges between China and the US by helping select Chinese enterprises enter suitable US communities. In a recent investment research trip to China that SoZo organized, Huntersville, North Carolina, mayor Jill Swain said she visited a number of manufacturing businesses, including a 3-D printing company, which she would be "thrilled" to have in her community.

"While we can do a lot on our part to help reach the grassroots level, the senior level needs to tone down the rhetoric and see each other as not only cooperative partners, but also essential in each others' success and survival over the next few decades," Cheng said.

China's investment in the US swelled to a record $6.7 billion in 2012 from less than $1 billion in 2008, according to the Rhodium Group, a consulting firm that tracks overseas Chinese investments.

SoZo is helping to organize the first US-China Manufacturing Symposium in the US's southern region in November. Cheng said he hopes US communities will actively welcome Chinese companies and guide them in becoming good corporate American citizens as the Chinese companies grow.

"Our view is, if these [Chinese] companies don't succeed through better understanding, through better practices in the US, they could devastate the community by failing and killing jobs," Cheng said. "Failing would create more tension and misunderstanding between the US and China."

At the same time, the US can't have a weak China - a key up-and-coming market - and both sides need each other to grow, according to Cheng.

The key is to build trust, said Cheng. The US needs to stop its "China bashing" and China must stop worrying the US is trying to contain it, he said.

"Building trust will enable businesses to get on, build the economy and build a better life for both citizens. I think we have a tremendous opportunity to do this right," Cheng said.