Obama names Republican governor as envoy to China
Reuters[Monday, May 18, 2009 11:45]
|
WASHINGTON, May 16 - US President Barack Obama on Saturday named the Republican governor of Utah to be the next US ambassador to China, a pivotal post in relations between the United States and a major emerging economic power.
Jon Huntsman Jr., 49, a Mandarin-speaking former US trade official with deep personal and family business ties to China, takes on a delicate diplomatic role with a vital trading partner and one of the biggest sources of financing for the growing pile of US government debt. ”This ambassadorship is as important as any in the world because the United States will best be able to deal effectively with the global challenges of the 21st century by working in concert with China,” Mr Obama said at a White House ceremony with Mr Huntsman at his side. But Mr Obama also used his nomination of Mr Huntsman, a former ambassador to Singapore who has been mentioned as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012, to send a message to China’s communist leadership. ”Improved relations with China will require candour and open discussion about those issues where we don’t always agree, such as human rights and democracy and free speech, and will require that each of our nations play by the rules in open and honest competition,” Mr Obama said. |
|
Mr Huntsman is the son of billionaire and philanthropist Jon Huntsman, and his family founded chemical company Huntsman Corp, which has operations in China including a factory in Shanghai. One of Huntsman’s seven children, daughter Gracie Mei, was adopted from China.
He quoted a Chinese aphorism as he accepted the nomination on Saturday, which he translated as, ”Together we work, together we progress.”
”This more than anything else, I think, captures the spirit of our journey going forward,” he said.
In a 2006 speech at Shanghai Normal University, Mr Huntsman urged bilateral cooperation to foster peace and economic prosperity on both sides of the Pacific, but also had some stern words about how environmental damage in Asia hurt wildlife in his home state of Utah.
”As leading stakeholders in the international community, the United States and China must be good examples and stewards of the Earth,” he said at the time. ”We must match economic progress with environmental stewardship. The effects of industrialization are felt worldwide.”
Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and previously head of the China division at the International Monetary Fund, said Huntsman’s diplomatic skills ”will be tested to the limit as there are many potential sources of conflict between China and the US, especially on trade, currency and environmental policies.”
”Once the world economy stabilizes and the worst of the (financial) crisis is behind us, these simmering tensions will come bubbling back to the surface,” he added.
Mr Obama’s administration has stopped short of accusing China of keeping its currency artificially low in order to boost exports, but some in Congress would like to see the United States formally accuse China of manipulating the yuan.
The US trade deficit with China hit a record $266.3bn in 2008, but both countries are feeling the pinch now because the global recession has clobbered world trade.
Mr Obama, like his predecessor George W. Bush, also has been mostly low-key in any criticism of China’s human rights record.
Washington is mindful of its need for Beijing’s cooperation in curbing the global financial crisis and in reining in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Mr Obama’s choice of a Republican for such a key post could signal that the Democratic president has not abandoned his pledge to seek bipartisan cooperation. Since taking office in January, he has mostly relied on a Democratic majority in Congress to push through his legislation.
The ambassador post requires Senate confirmation.
Mr Huntsman served as deputy US trade representative in the Bush administration from 2001-2004, and was also US ambassador to Singapore from 1992 to 1994 when Mr Bush’s father was president.
China is among the largest buyers of US government debt, with $767.9bn as of March, according to Treasury Department data released on Friday. Washington is keen to maintain a strong relationship — particularly now as the $787bn stimulus package and $700bn financial bailout fund have strained public finances.
If China pulled back on its purchases of US bonds, it could drive up interest rates, making it more expensive for the government to finance its growing debt pile. It could also raise borrowing costs for a host of consumer and business loans, including home mortgages.
Tags: China, Free Tibet, Namgyal Rapper, Tibet, Tibetan