Midwest China Hub Commission meets with Chinese ambassador
Globe-Democrat
February 2, 2010
by Steve Birmingham
A day full of meetings and events between members of he Midwest China Hub Commission and Chinese Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong went well, according to local and federal elected officials.
Zhou was in town for a tour with commission members of Emerson Electric and a meeting at the Regional Chamber and Growth. Following the RCGA meeting the ambassador was scheduled to fly to Jefferson City for an overnight stay at the Governor's mansion along with members of the commission.
St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley said thee was a lot to be gained from the meeting.
"We had a good meeting," Dooley said. "Mayor (Francis) Slay was there, as was St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann, and we had a lot of good discussion about business opportunities for China and St. Louis as a Midwest hub."
The commission has been in negotiations with Chinese officials or months regarding the China Hub, an effort to turn the St. Louis region into a cargo hub for trade with China. Also attending the meetings was Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond., who has been instrumental in the China Hub effort.
The Midwest China Hub Commission, chaired by Mike Jones, senior policy advisor to St. Louis County Executive Charlie A. Dooley, is tasked with making the St. Louis area an air freight hub to and from China. A public/private entity, the commission operates both in St. Louis and Beijing, China.
Among its members are Richard Fleming, CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association (RCGA), Daniel Mehan, , president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and St. Louis County Economic Council CEO Denny Coleman.
Dooley said the meeting with Zhou "bigger than the China Hub."
"It's about the exchange of cultures, about agriculture, about technology, about food, and not just cargo," Dooley said. "There are a lot of other things involved. We've gone far beyond what we were originally talking about. We talked about economic issues; we talked about health care, the difference between Chinese medicine and American medicine and the different hospital systems."
Dooley said there were "still many things to discuss with the Chinese that they could take advantage of, and a lot of things that we could take advantage of as well."
Bond, at a press conference before flying back to Washington, D.C., said he and the ambassador talked about the "tremendous opportunities that exist for the United States and I hope, for China, to export more products made in Missouri and other Midwest states."
"They talked about the need for food, and we export them a tremendous amount of soybeans and we're going to continue to do that," Bond said. "He expressed interest in genetically improved seeds, and that opportunity exists along with all the opportunities to provide the technology for producing more coal in an environmentally friendly way."
Bond said while some may think the negotiations with Chinese over the China Hub have been slow, he said "dealing with China, this is flank speed. It still takes a little time to get it all done."
Bond added that a major sticking point continues to be trade restrictions between the two nations, among them the fact that almost no beef or pork is imported to China because of trade and health issues.
"The ambassador brought that up again today," Bond said. "The president imposed limits on Chinese poultry imports, so let me get one thing perfectly clear - no food products come into this state that does not meet our high standards. We insist upon, and we demand, that they be, in terms of health, safe. And we have assured the Chinese our beef is healthy."
To prove their point, Bond said the ambassador was served "American beef" for lunch today.
"He seemed to like it," Bond said.
"We're going to have to have less protectionism and more willingness to accept the benefits of free trade," Bond said. The United States has imposed barriers that make it difficult, but we think that by opening the opportunities for trade through the St. Louis hub will show that this can provide very good jobs and a lot of them for our region."
