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 Hollywood producers, eager to build ties to the world's
second-largest film market, have embraced an influx of Chinese
capital in recent years, leading to a series of high-profile
partnerships. Chinese authorities have gradually raised the
annual quota of foreign films to 34 but state censors still keep
a firm grip over what may be shown.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is leading a two-week trade
mission across three Asian countries, raised the issue of
foreign film quotas - a longstanding source of U.S.-China trade
friction - during a meeting with Chinese vice minister of
foreign affairs Zhang Yesui in Beijing on Friday.
"I hope the Chinese government will see (Chinese companies')
profits coming in, and their stake in more movies coming in from
the West," Garcetti said. "Our best advocates are going to be
Chinese companies who have a stake in this opening up."
Former Warner Bros film chief Jeff Robinov announced in June the
creation of a new studio reportedly with $200 million backing
from Fosun International, one of China's largest private
conglomerates.
The state-affiliated Shanghai Media Group pledged to invest $1
billion alongside veteran producer Robert Simonds on films,
while Wanda Dalian - owned by Chinese real estate mogul Wang
Jianlin - acquired the AMC Entertainment Holdings cinema chain
in 2012 as its first move into Hollywood.
Although such joint partnerships may help studios get around
foreign quotas, they are coming at a time when China's ruling
Communist Party has tightened control over the media.
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 Chinese regulators pulled four U.S. television series from
online streaming sites in April, while President Xi Jinping has
urged the country's artistic elite to promote socialist values,
eschew "the stink of money" and become a cultural influence on
the world stage.
Garcetti said he hoped the deepening business bonds would soothe
government concerns. "It's not a cultural threat," he said.
"Quite the contrary, it's an integration of our two societies,
both on the cultural and economic front."
The mayor, who has met his counterparts in the southern Chinese
cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen so far on the trip, has also been
pitching Los Angeles as a site to hold climate talks between the
United States and China.
He said he welcomed Chinese investment and tourism, particularly
following a revision in the U.S.-China visa treaty that now allows
Chinese citizens unlimited visits over a 10-year period, and
dismissed comparisons to the boom-and-bust cycle of Japanese real
estate investment during the late 1980s.
"It's a flawed, simplistic comparison," he said . "Sure, there are
booms and busts that can happen but I think there will be a
permanence to this relationship."
(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Pravin Char)
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