By HOWARD FINE

Staff Reporter

Marking its importance to the L.A. economy, China will be the anchor of Mayor Richard Riordan’s two-week Asia trip.

The trade mission, which is Riordan’s second to Asia since he was first elected in 1993, includes stops in Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei. Accompanying Riordan on the trip are representatives from 34 companies as well as city, port and tourism officials.

The business people accompanying the mayor are in industries targeted by the Riordan administration that have specific interest in various regions. On the three China stops, entertainment executives will play a big role in Beijing and Shanghai; food processing executives will also be visiting Shanghai, and multimedia executives will have much to discuss in Hong Kong.

“Normally, city-level trade missions take a select few business leaders along from their largest companies. We targeted as many companies as we could in high-growth industries like multimedia and entertainment. We looked for large companies and small entrepreneurial companies,” said Marci Wiseman, assistant deputy mayor for economic development and one of the trip’s organizers.

Wiseman said each of the businesses on the trade mission is paying its own way; total travel costs are estimated at between $3,000 and $5,000 per person. (The city officials’ expenses of $470,000 are being picked up by taxpayers.)

Among the entertainment companies flying into Beijing and Shanghai are: L.A.-based Jim Henson Productions, Saban Entertainment, and Klasky Csupo, Hollywood-based Paramount Pictures and Burbank-based Iwerks Entertainment.

“We’ve been trying for years to find the best way to get into the China market,” said Charles Rivken, president and chief operating officer of Jim Henson Productions, whose sister company, the Children’s Television Workshop, airs its co-production of “Sesame Street” on Shanghai television. “This trip is a good way to learn about the marketplace and introduce ourselves. It takes an enormous commitment of resources to enter the China market; to do it right you’ve got to meet the right people. We’re going to meet the media decision-makers.”

Iwerks Entertainment is also looking to penetrate the China market, for a slightly different reason: negotiations on location-based entertainment projects have been put on hold in other Southeast Asian countries due to the financial crisis sweeping the region.

“We’ve not signed any contracts in Southeast Asia since June. So we are refocusing from the rest of Southeast Asia into China because of its greater market potential right now,” said Don Savant, vice president of worldwide sales for Iwerks. “We hope this breaks the Asian logjam for us.”

While entertainment companies are targeting Beijing and Shanghai, their brethren in the multimedia industry will be focusing on Hong Kong and Taipei. The mixture of large and small companies on the multimedia front includes: the L.A. office of Sun Microsystems, L.A.-based Web-site design firm BoxTop Entertainment, Mixx Entertainment and the simulation stock market company Hollywood Stock Exchange. Iwerks is also joining this leg of the trade mission.

“We’re looking at pursuing joint ventures in Southeast Asia,” said Kevin Wall, president and chief executive of BoxTop Entertainment. “There is an extensive talent pool of people with fantastic programming skills in the region and we feel that gives us opportunities to establish a stake in the ground in Southeast Asia.”

Wall said that the current financial and economic crisis in the region could actually help Iwerks. “These incredibly talented programmers are now available at even cheaper rates than they were before because of the fall in the region’s currencies,” he said.

Another reason for targeting multimedia companies for the Hong Kong portion of the trip is the tremendous amount of venture capital in the former British colony.

“We are seeking venture capital that usually goes to San Francisco or Silicon Valley,” said Rocky Delgadillo, deputy mayor for economic development.

While it may lack the glitz of entertainment and multimedia, the local food processing sector is also hoping to land big deals. Four food processing companies are joining the trade mission in Shanghai: Juanita’s Foods, Quon Yick Noodle Co., Wing Hing Noodle Co. and Canton Foods. All four are part of an ethnic food industry trade group known as the Food Industry Business Roundtable, which brought them to the attention of the mayor’s staff.

Gina Harpur, general manager of Juanita’s Foods, is looking to broaden the firm’s exporting network in China. The Mexican food company already exports beef tendon soup, oxtail soup and tripe-based products to China.

“We’re looking for companies that have a well-established food brand in China and want to expand their food offerings there,” Harpur said. “I also want to get a better idea of how the food distribution network is set up there.”

At Wing Hing Noodle Co., President Ken Yee is using this trade mission to continue relationships he has developed on annual trips to China.

“Relationships are the key to doing business in China. They need constant cultivation, especially in today’s changing environment,” Yee said.

Both Yee and Harpur said they also plan to tout L.A. as the gateway to the vast U.S. market for Chinese companies.

In fact, selling L.A’s image is a big part of the overall Riordan trade mission, particularly in Japan, which has been one of L.A.’s key tourism markets.

“We want to convey to the Japanese that Hollywood has been revitalized,” Wiseman said. “We plan to tell them, ‘If you haven’t been to L.A. in five years, you haven’t been in L.A.’ ”

That’s why Hollywood developers Trizec-Hahn and Regent Properties, along with Universal Studios Hollywood, were invited to Tokyo and Osaka, she said.

Retail real estate companies like the Jerde Partnership, Lowe Enterprises and Champion Development Group also figure prominently on the Taipei portion of the trip. These companies will participate in a conference on retail development.

“We think of L.A. as the capital of innovative retail development,” Wiseman said. “We want to show companies in Taiwan that we have the expertise to help them with their retail development projects.”

One major sector of the L.A. economy with extensive ties in Southeast Asia that is not represented on this trade mission is the garment industry. Wiseman said several local garment makers returned last week from a trip to the region sponsored by the U.S. government.