China can be a great place for international companies interested in green business.

It's a matter of getting to know the right people, adapting to the culture and "getting over your fear of China," said Peggy Liu, who chairs the Joint U.S.-China Cooperation on Clean Energy, an NGO that seeks to change the way China makes and uses energy.

Liu, whose work earned her recognition as one of Time magazine's "Heroes of the Environment 2008," shared her insights about doing business in China at GreenBiz.com's State of Green Business Forum on Thursday in San Francisco.

The forum, the first of two with the second being held in Chicago on Tuesday, coincided with the release of the annual State of Green Business Report.

Too often, business people see China in terms of absolutes -- friend or foe, for example. And in the world of green business, the country is often portrayed as a competitor at best -- and at worst an arch combatant -- with the U.S. and Europe in a struggle to dominate the clean energy industry.

Liu offered a different view. To be sure, China is struggling to redefine itself and its strategies for progress on many fronts, she said. But it's not a situation of China versus ... fill in the blank, she contends.

"China at war with climate change -- it's not about Sputnik," she said, referring to the space race between U.S. and Soviet Union in 1950s.

"It's about a horse race ... China is racing as fast as it can (toward clean energy) and there is an opportunity for all countries to jump on as a jockey and win together."

"China today is not the China of yesterday -- or even six months ago," Liu continued.

Drawing on her articles in a point-counterpoint exchange in Economist magazine last fall, Liu recited a string of statistics on China's rapid development including:

• In the next 20 years, the country expects to build 50,000 new skyscrapers
• China's state grid intends to build a strong smart grid by 2020
• The country is on track to for its energy mix to include 15 percent renewables by 2020