China's US$586 billion economic bailout, announced over the weekend, will be a windfall for San Francisco businesses, it was reported on Wednesday.

The bailout "could not have come at a better time for Bay Area business delegations looking to make their mark here," the San Francisco Chronicle said.

China's pumping more money into export growth and green tech "plays right into the sweet spots of San Francisco's China SF initiative and the Bay Area Council's US-China Green Tech summit," the paper said. Both groups are in Shanghai this week meeting with the locals, hoping to gin up business in those exact areas.

"This reinvigorates our efforts. It makes them more timely and vital than ever," Michael Cohen, director of San Francisco's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, was quoted as saying.

The China SF Initiative, focused on getting Chinese companies to open satellites in San Francisco among other things, was officially unveiled by Mayor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday. The initiative has already bagged two Chinese firms.

Trina Solar, a solar power parts company listed on the NYSE, will set up a US base in San Francisco, and the English-language China Daily, with a circulation of 200,000, will open its first West Coast bureau in the city, according to the Chronicle.

City officials are not shy in boasting that they beat out San Jose and Los Angeles, respectively, for the honors, said the paper.

"If we can hit that elusive tipping point and get enough Chinese companies to sign up with us," said Cohen, "in 10 or 15 years San Francisco really will be the North American gateway for China's business."

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2008)