Chongqing - Midwest USA Chinese Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit business association founded in Cincinnati in 2005 to encourage cooperation between American and Chinese organizations for the benefit of regional businesses. Notable examples include the Fuyao Glass Company and a new electric vehicle battery plant that operates in the American Midwest, as well as positive cooperation between universities and hospitals between Cincinnati and Chongqing.
A friendship city MOU was signed during a visit to Chongqing in 2018 between the two city mayors, and a return delegation was received the following year in Cincinnati. The Chinese Chamber played a significant role in fostering this sister-city relationship and represented Cincinnati in the Chongqing International Sister City Roundtable held in 2019. Last year, the Chamber participated in the SCE2022 through a virtual booth and continued to attend this year to forge new partnerships and witness recent developments in smart technology.
Lee Wong is Chairman of the West Chester Township Board of Trustees in Ohio and traveled to Chongqing to attend the 2023 Smart China Expo in person. He explained that China is too big a country to ignore and that America lags in EV technology and needs to tap into Chinese advancements in this field. Despite recent political tension, he also reiterated the positive cooperation between China and the USA. “I think the bottom line is food on the table, and we do business through local government. What goes on at the federal level is a little disconnected.”
According to Leo Chan, Executive Chairman of the Midwest USA Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Cincinnati wishes to achieve a win-win situation through more initiatives, projects, and programs to help society in both nations. Leo explained at the Smart China Expo, “We’ll continue to participate in globalization and mutual collaboration to create more opportunities, allowing everybody to climb the economic ladder.”
(Guo Juntao, as an intern, also contributed to this report.)