China means great opportunities instead of threat: Japanese business owner

OSAKA - China's fast development is not a threat to Japan, but provides great opportunities for Japanese enterprises, Tadayuki Yoshitani, head of Niitaka Seisakusho Co., Ltd., a small or medium-sized enterprise in western Japan, has said.

Headquartered in Osaka, Niitaka Seisakusho has a history of 83 years and mainly manufactures and sells metal parts for buildings in Japan. It has factories both in Japan and in China.

Talking about the so-called "China Threat" theory, Yoshitani said that he does not believe the fast development of China is a threat. Instead, he considers it as great business opportunities for Japan.

"My own company has benefited a lot from the development of Sino-Japanese economic ties. As Chinese economy develops, there will be bigger scope and potential for us to cooperate with Chinese enterprises," he said.

Five years ago, Niitaka Seisakusho set up a factory in Kunshan city of China's Jiangsu province, manufacturing metal parts such as water-proof sluice gate and aluminum shutters for Japan. Now the factory's annual gross output value has reached about 100 million yen, or 849,000 U.S. dollars.

The company also imports about 100 million yen's worth of metal parts for buildings from Guangdong province, China to Japan annually.

Yoshitani attributed part of the company's success in China to the hard work of its Chinese employees. "Chinese associates are smart, conscientious and hard-working, a great help for our company to make progress in China," he said.

Currently, three out of 15 regular employees in the company's headquarters were from China. One of them has worked for the company for 13 years.

Yoshitani said he has witnessed fast development and great changes in China, as well as the development of Sino-Japanese economic ties.

As early as 1974, 34-year-old Yoshitani visited China with a 400-member youth delegation from Osaka, traveling to cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin and Beijing. He developed a special interest in China since then and started reading books about Chinese history.

In the early 1990s, the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an economic organization in Kansai region of Japan, started to provide trainings to small and medium-sized enterprises for exploiting Chinese market. Taking advantage of such training programs, Yoshitani prepared to set foot on Chinese market.

According to Yoshitani, he has visited China for dozens of times and kept learning more about the Chinese language and culture. His interest in China pays well.

"My company plans to recruit two more Chinese employees this year. We hope to expand our business in China," he said.