Ｃｈｉｎａ ｓ　Ａｕｔｏ　Ａｍｂｉｔｉｏｎｓ.docVIP

Ｃｈｉｎａ ｓ　Ａｕｔｏ　Ａｍｂｉｔｉｏｎｓ 　　Western car manufacturers -- from Volkswagen to General Motors -- are scrambling for the opportunity to do business with China＇s most important automobile company. But the Chinese have plans of their own -- including future car exports. (Reported by Wieland Wagner) 　　Hu Maoyuan, is fond of parties and celebrations. Only recently, Hu, the head of China＇s biggest automobile manufacturer, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), celebrated the 20-year anniversary of his company＇s joint venture with Volkswagen with fireworks and high-ranking dignitaries from VW＇s hometown of Wolfsburg. Two days later, Hu gave another party, but this time for one of VW＇s biggest competitors in China, Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors (GM). Wagoner was in China to help Hu inaugurate a project for the production of environmentally friendly cars. 　　In Germany, the only people familiar with the car company＇s acronym, SAIC, have been industry insiders. Until now, the Chinese state-owned company, a majority of which is held by the city of Shanghai, has been satisfied playing the role of a profitable but unnoticed holding company that enters into joint venture agreements with Western corporations -- thus bringing money and expertise into the country -- whenever it can. People in the auto industry, however, are slowly beginning to wonder whether the Chinese, following the Japanese and Korean lead, are preparing to launch an assault on the European and North American auto manufacturing industries.It may too be early for such doomsday speculation, 　　Going global 　　SAIC, especially, is dedicated to global expansion. In South Korea, the company acquired a share of that country＇s second-largest automaker, Daewoo, and it recently acquired the fourth-largest automaker, Ssangyong. This brand, which has acquired technical licenses from Mercedes-Benz, provides the Chinese with important technologies for producing its own SUVs. 　　SAIC CEO Hu believes that th