Anthony Yen is Cleveland’s example of diversity in motion. The founder and owner of Yen Enterprises during the '70s and throughout the '90s, he conducted international trade with export and import offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan. His company received the President’s Export Award, and also to his credit, he conducted the first study which led to the opening of the World Trade Center in Cleveland. Mr. Yen's list of honors is laudable: he was invited to the White House as the first Chinese American to receive the Director’s Award from the Small Business Administration, presented by President Ronald Reagan. In 1985 Mr. Yen was the first Asian to be honored as “International Executive of the Year” by the World Trade Conference. From 1990 through 1993, Mr. Yen served on the Board of Directors of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association as its first member of an ethnic minority. He's the first member of an ethnic minority to be appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to the District Export Council, and has been on the Council for over 35 years, serving on the Executive Committee for the last ten years

Cool Cleveland: Thank you for speaking with us at Cool Cleveland.
Anthony Yen: I just hope you know [you have] a good intention to start [Cool Cleveland], but I hope you will never sell yourself... to sell your soul. I know a lot of people who start off with a very good intention. They build a tremendously large following. Then, somebody comes along and offers them something you can’t refuse. That’s really sad. You can count them by the fingers on your hand, how many people start off with good intentions... A lot of the younger generations and a senior citizen like me would follow you, because we know we’ve got to do something in this city, and I love Cleveland, especially with the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. It’s such a good health center.

Talk about what does the World Trade Center actually do, because I think a lot of people don’t realize we have a World Trade Center here in Cleveland, and they don’t know what function it would serve.
First of all, I’m not directly connected with the World Trade Center, except I’m on the advisory board. However, I am a very old timer in the World Trade Center because I, at the very, very beginning, I actually went to New York to see the grand opening of the World Trade Centers, the headquarters, you know the Twin Towers.

The World Trade Center is a very large group of centers throughout the world. There are about three hundred centers around the world. So the first thing that comes to your mind is a networking between countries. The whole idea was originally…I would give credit to the Rockefellers, the brothers. Their idea was that through trade, through communication…you’ll find peace, specifically world peace. That’s the goal - not profit - but peace. Profit comes with it because in the American Open Market System, prosperity --

With prosperity comes a sense of goodwill, and a sense of goodwill towards humanity.
Absolutely, and also there’s a challenge involved. So when you talk about business you have competition. But then, this is how invention comes, new ideas come. This is when you have new technology developed. So through this competition, communication, generating understanding, you have a world peace and you have harmony. This is what I believe in also...very much so. So in Cleveland years ago, I did the first study for the World Trade Center and there were perks to do it or not.

To bring it here?
Yes, we should join them. It’s a franchise, see. So currently through the wisdom of some business leaders and city leaders, they formed the World Trade Center, bought the franchise from New York Headquarters, whereas Cleveland, you have the City of Cleveland, Port Authority and you have the County Commissioners – Cuyahoga County Commissioners and the Chamber of Commerce as the owner of that franchise.

What was their planned goal from the beginning?
The goal was to reach out overseas and internationally. Particularly, as I mentioned, in twenty years time, [Ohio Governor] Jim Rhodes was going after the Japanese especially during that time.

And you think now we should be focusing on China?
Not only China, but to focus on China, Israel, and countries like Brazil.

Eastern Europe?
Not Eastern Europe, but – let me explain. Eastern Europe yes, but however Eastern Europe most likely would be much more attached to the European Countries, near the community market because they’re right next to it.

The World Trade Center in Cleveland only looks like we’re doing something. But in reality, during the last ten years, the World Trade Center’s budget has been cut from ten people down to only two people. So it’s not something that has been sold to the management.

Who is the management? Is it still this group the county, and the state?
Yes, the County, the State, it’s the City, and the Port Authority and then you have the change transition, which is the mergers of the organization. They call it The New Partner.

The Cleveland Partnership and The Growth Association?
Yes, the Partnership. Under the Cleveland Partnership, they began to revitalize this World Trade Center.

How does globalism affect a city like Cleveland? People think we’re sort of a landlocked city here. We manufacture things that go as far Detroit maybe. How are we really affected by globalism?

Well, you have got to remember that this is a very unique city, and it’s located right in the middle of the American population. Within 500 miles you’ve got to recognize the fact that you have about 67 percent of the US population, and also the industrial base as well as the market. So if you take a look at the statistics that are available to us, the best way to find out is with the U.S. Customs District. How much volume actually is coming into this area [in terms of imports]? It happens to be that this is the sixth largest port in terms of import districts into this area. I’m not talking about some imports that were credited to other areas. For example, if a headquarters is in New York, so often they get the credit for doing it, but in reality the stuff is actually coming through Cleveland or through Northern Ohio. That’s one.

Secondly, is for the export. Surprisingly, this is one of the largest areas for export, mainly through Canada. I’m talking about the industrial base now, but also the very largest exporter out of this is Northern Ohio. One example would include Honda; they're shipping cars overseas.

From here? I know we’ve been manufacturing them south of here.
Yes, and do you know why? It’s very interesting.

Well it’s got to be cheaper, for one thing.
No, it’s not that we’re cheaper. It so happens that Honda in Japan makes the driver on the right side. So in order to sell the car to China, China uses the same as we do - the driver on the left side. Therefore, cars that go to China for Honda or for Nissan are coming out of the USA. So you can imagine tody, and as you called it, LTV Steel, they’re now called International...

ISG, International Steel Group.
Where do think they’re shipping all the steel to? China. So there’s tremendous export coming out of here and they have a lot of instrumentations for IT or for the science. Those are all going -- Picker, X-ray, General Electric’s MRI machines, those are all going overseas. You know, Parker Hannifin is going overseas. For example, China last year bought close to three billion dollars in US automobiles and spare parts.

China is a huge automobile growth market.
Guess where they bought it from?

From our region?
Well, only two states are really manufacturing automobile parts and automobile assembly - that’s Detroit and Northern Ohio.

What can we do to increase our connection with especially China; but first I want to talk about the natural connections from people in this region who have natural affinities.
That is not as important as a lot of people put it. A lot of people who came from, let’s say from Italy - and they’re located here now - does that mean you could do more business with Italians?

They have connections in Italy, they have family, they have a work force, they know the language, they know the customs and the rules. There’s a natural affinity there.
That is true, but it’s not as important...

If they’re going to be a stone cutter when they come over here, probably not a lot of connections, but if they’re going to be an entrepreneur...
Most of them, when they are coming here, yes – but my approach is different than that.

Tell me your approach.
First of all I have to explain the traditional approach. You see it everywhere. The Plain Dealer is playing a tremendous emphasis on the fact that we have a hundred some nationalities and so forth. They went on pushing for this connection. In reality, that's not how businesses are done. If you could ask the people at Eaton or ask the people at Parker Hannifin, did they use anybody locally when they did business with Europe? Did they use anybody locally in order to get business from Australia? Did they use anybody locally to get business from Japan? The answer most likely is no.

So what is the reality? You’re from the United States of America, and that doesn’t mean you’re able to sell your product through Chicago. Or just because you’re going from American to American, that doesn’t mean you’re able to sell a product to Florida. Just because you look at a guy who’s Chinese, does that mean he only has to be able to sell the stuff...

All over the Far East?
No, that’s not the case. On the other hand, you have to make an effort to reach out to them. First of all, there has got to be a need for the product. Secondly, you have got to make an effort to build yourself a relationship with them. That’s why last October it was publicized in the Plain Dealer; I brought the Mayor to a group of business leaders: [Executive Director] Ronn Richards from the Cleveland Foundation and the Mayor [Jane Campbell]. We went to meet the Ambassador from China, the Ambassador from Brazil, the Ambassador from Ireland, and the Ambassador from Israel. That kind of approach is more effective.

Did you meet them here in Cleveland or did you go to New York?
We went to Washington D.C. to visit the Ambassador. As a matter of fact, the Ambassador hosted a lunch for us. He brought his Minister of Consulate in charge of commerce, in charge of culture, education; he had a whole team there.

Did we have anyone representing the cultural aspect or was it more on the diplomatic, government and business side?
It was more on the business side, but the important fact is that these are the first stages to show that Cleveland is a fine city. We invite the Chinese to come here, and we would like the Ambassador and his people to know that we are open to invite international relationships. China is ready to invest in the United States.

Can the arts do that? Can the arts be a welcoming mat?
Of course, we’ve got examples. One of the best representatives of this country from the arts is the Cleveland Orchestra; they were well received in China. As a matter of fact, twice they played there, and when they played in Beijing and Shanghai, they got five ovations. They were encored five times - when have you ever heard that? The President of China and the Prime Minister of China all came.

Came to the concert? The Prime Minister of China came to the event?
Yes, and the President of China.

Who did we have there? Did we have the President of the United States there?
No.

Did we have the Governor of the State of Ohio? Did we have the Mayor of the City of Cleveland? If the Premier of the country comes, shouldn’t you have someone there to meet them? This is a problem I’ve seen. As the Cleveland Orchestra tours, why don’t we have a delegation tag along, like they do elsewhere in Europe. When the London Symphony tours or when the Berlin Symphony Tours, the Presidents and the Prime Ministers come to these events. Why are we not honoring that and showing up in the same way to shake their hand when we’re basking in the glory of what could be the best orchestra in the world? Why do we not want to bask in that glow?
You are right. I agree. Now you are exceptional when you talk like this, But on the other hand --

What are they doing? If they’re not going to go out and make a good impression... Do we take our worse shot or do we take our best shot? What’s our best shot?
I agree, but I cannot speak for all of these political leaders.

But you can comment on whether they should be there and whether they’re there on the other side?
Yes, but on the other hand, I would have wanted you to know that we did have our business leader there. For example, in the media, the Plain Dealer’s Alex Machaskee [President and Publisher] was accompanying them. It’s very important you have to remember, we have been known in this area for bashing the Chinese, and for not being very friendly. We have politicians who actually got involved with China’s domestic affairs.

How did they do that?
By visiting Taiwan, by picking sides, and sending off letters - protesting letters against the Chinese Government. These are things they don’t realize --

What should we be doing instead?
We should stay away from domestic affairs. For example, China last week was visited by the National Party's Chairman, who just showed up in Beijing. They treated her equal and this week another party leader, in Taiwan right now, they’ve got three political parties. So these dialogues going between Taiwan and China, that’s their domestic affair. It has nothing to do with the United States of America; we should not be involved in it. We have politicians bashing them.

What do we gain from that?
We gain a bad name. They will not come here and do investment, and they will not even consider here. They consider this area as hostile.

Why you think they do it?
Shortsighted... we have politicians who are so shortsighted. I will give you an example. During the LTV problem, a couple of years ago, LTV was about to go bankrupt with a lot of jobs lost. You have politicians face the camera, actually bashing it, saying the Chinese are dumping the steel and everybody knows those are lies; that’s not true. The Chinese did not dump it because they are only ones who buy the steel.

They say it because they want the votes here locally, right?
Yes, and they want to create emotional issues and get all of the people riled up. Once people get emotional, they don’t think. You see when people are emotional they cannot reason, so they follow this guy and blow the horn and say here’s the champion so he gets all the votes, he gets all the attention from the news media because you’re attacking the Chinese or writing letters to the President of the United States and accusing Chinese with dumping, which is not even true. So, you go to him and you say, you’re creating hate crime. You’re leading people to emotional...very, very bad.

It’s basically international hate crimes.
Yes, and you know what, he says, "Anthony, I know you’re right - they didn’t dump the steel, but if I don’t use the name Chinese, I won’t get any coverage."

Who told you this?
No, I am not going to name the name.

A politician, though?
Yes, absolutely. People would know who it is. Everybody knows who that is because they heard him on the radio, they heard him on the T.V., and he gets most of the attention by having that kind of exercise. But what happens in the long run, is that those things are going into the public, and the Chinese pick them up. They say, "Oh geez, in this area, they have these politicians."

Who are you going to work with, your friends or the people who are bashing you?
Why should we go there? You know you’ve got 50 states, why do we have to go and get involved in that? Why don’t we go to Atlanta? Why don’t we go to Chicago? Why don’t we go to San Francisco? Why don’t we use Seattle? That’s what the problems are.

What’s the number one industry that the traditional Northeast Ohio manufacturers supply into? What’s the number one industry in this part of the world? Auto and auto parts in general, correct? What’s the number one growing market for automobiles and will be for the next 20 years?
China, China.

So why do we not see it in our best interest for the manufacturing base, for the traditional base?
You see, this is the problem. We don’t have a leader who is dedicated to thinking how to make this area great. Instead, they think that immediate advantages get a lot of votes. That’s all. As a matter of fact, I had a very nice conversation on the radio with John Ryan.

President of the AFL-CIO. Great Guy.
Oh, excellent, and I think he’s a man of reason. Instead, another professional from Case Western Reserve - I was very surprised that she uses a statistic which is three-years old, or two-years old. I said, "Look, China changes every quarter," and I run into the Harvard MBA, and the professor told me, "You know, I couldn’t honestly be giving anybody an MBA degree unless they come to China at least twice a year, minimum." They’re growing so fast. The Chinese economy changes so fast. So if you look at the future for Cleveland, we could do a lot of things, for example, the Ambassador to China was here for the grand opening of the Science Center's Seven Thousand Years of Discovery.

He came to the Science Center here?
I invited him for the grand opening.

When was that?

Two-years ago when we had the Great Seven Thousand Years of Discovery of China. He mentioned a private meeting we had with Governor Taft and basically informed us that China could reach out to work together with your state, and we have been encouraging our people to consider instead of shipping the forging and castings to Japan and machine them - and we know these are coming to the United States of America - why not we involve the Japanese in a three-way partnership. China ships the casting. Instead of it going to Japan, it goes directly to the USA, and this will eliminate the third country transportation shipping issues. It’s very costly with all the handling and delays. He said, "Well why not, you have a lot of good school labor, and we will set the company right here in Northern Ohio and then finish the machining, finish the casting, finish the forging - finish it right here in Ohio." Then you send it to any country or any company, and ship it out instead of going from Japan and then from Japan to...

We’ll never be able to compete with Japan on steel with their mini-mills because their technology is much newer and so much more efficient. So instead, have them do the raw production in Japan, ship it here for finishing, and then ship it throughout the world?
No. China currently is shipping the castings and forgings to Japan. Japan sends finished machines to USA. What we suggested was – what the Ambassador Yan suggests - was to take the Chinese forging and casting directly to USA and have machinery in Northern Ohio, then send it to and use it in the USA. But we went one step further; we’re not trying to cut the Japanese businessman out. We’re telling the Japanese that we want to work together. You set up a company with the Americans in Northern Ohio, and this way the American worker will get a job.

And then share the profit?
Yes. When LTV went down there was a history that a lot of people were not even aware of. China tried to send Shanghai Power Steel to come to Cleveland, and their objective was not to tear the factory apart and ship this stuff out, as some politicians said that’s the way they did it. That is not true. I happen to know, because the consulate in had been communicating with me and they gave me the idea.

LTV at that time was importing plates. But the plates then use the plates. Then you roll them into your stock. Now, the finished stock is used for automobiles for appliance industries. So the Chinese suggested that Ball Steel could produce more plates then they need, but there’s a tremendous shortage of sheet steel, so they would like to do a partnership with LTV to have LTV do the finish sheet steel, which China needs desperately for their auto industry development, and also as appliance industries grow up. In the meantime, they will ship the plates which LTV needs. So it’s a win-win situation, but when the Ball Steel delegation arrived in New York, they were told not to come to Cleveland because Cleveland had two big articles, one was in Crain's Cleveland Business.

I am very proud to tell you, for example, schools like Laurel School started teaching Chinese in kindergarten, first grade, then every year as they go, they are going to expand. That’s a visionary statement about globalization. We need to get ready and teach children about the huge market and then you could make China as a market. So what do you want? Do you want to make sure you’re going to reach out, and do your business there? How would you do it if you didn’t have the language to go with you?

That’s right.
This is the only damn country where our diplomat needs an interpreter. Can you imagine, a man is supposed to talk with economists, then how can he relay his message to the other country about American policy on economy - when he can’t speak the language and he uses an interpreter? Interpreters are only experts in language, but not experts in economy. So he can’t possibly relay the exact meaning of how to convey the policy of America. So I think the Laurel School is excellent to teach Chinese.

That’s good. So that’s one approach, one solution?
Absolutely, because the Laurel School is giving a leadership in that area and it should conform as they continue putting the language in school, Chinese and so on. That's one example. The other example is... I will give credit to the Mayor [Campbell] who goes to visit with the Chinese Embassy. For example, the Brazilian Ambassador said to the Mayor, "Jane Campbell, listen, you’re the first person in the United States of America to ever call on the embassy and introduce your city. I congratulate you."

From Brazil?
Yes, from Brazil. And you know, Brazil is a huge country... and the opportunity.

They have more people than the United States.
But they have natural resources, which we don’t. They have iron so pure, 65 to 66 percent pure iron ore. You know, when we talk about iron ore, we had to purify it because we only get it to 32 percent. So we had to go through making pallets out of it, we had to clean them up because the costs of getting iron ore in the US versus taking it at 66 percent. Amazing.

I’m just giving you one example what we could do. But the way we also do it, I think we need to have exposure. Okay, education not just for the school, but education for the people in the community. Let them know the damage that was done by bashing. That’s when I look into your system. You reach out to so many, and it’s so important for your --

Do you mean with Cool Cleveland?
Cool Cleveland had to be a teacher. Your responsibility is telling the truth. Your responsibility is to reach out for peace. You had to be the champion for telling the truth. You had me use to educate. You know how important it is, because sometimes I use your message and I send it to my community. Why? Because there’s truth in it, whether you’re critical or not. I always look at what your statement is about and what are your intentions are about. If your intention is right, there is a value. If the intention is not, then it’s nothing. I think that’s the different between Cool Cleveland and the others, because others have the intention and they have their purpose. You don’t. I look in every article you write.

You promoted what’s best in Cleveland and also want to share the information. I told them at Cleveland Clinic Foundation, "I’m not talking about your building, I’m talking about the people in it." So I selectively invite the scientists, or invite a physician who had accomplished something and let people know how to do preventive medicine or how to do surgery.

These are people from the international community who happen to live here in Cleveland – we work here in Cleveland.
International... it doesn’t matter. Not only international. I interviewed Toby Cosgrove, the new CEO [of the Cleveland Clinic] and I also interviewed the new guy [Dr. Philip Schauer, M.D.] who just moved here from Pittsburgh who is head of the obesity center. Now think for one moment about the word obesity – you know there are a lot of people afraid to use that word on the radio because you’re offending a lot of people. But on the other hand, it’s obligation. Everybody knows somebody who is obese. You also could talk about how much damage they have done to themselves and to their family. So, how to prevent it? I have Dr. Schauer on last Sunday talking about basically what his program is about. When I gave Toby Cosgrove the credit, he told Pizza Hut and McDonald’s to leave.

Interview and photos by Thomas Mulready

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