Bond on China trade panel
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
December 11, 2009
by Bill Lambrecht
In his new position as vice chairman of a U.S-China exchange group, Missouri Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond said his principal goal is to promote trade between the two global powers.
For St. Louis, the implication of Bond's new job is more clout behind the goal of persuading the Chinese to locate a Midwest cargo hub at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, a project viewed as an economic bonanza for the region.
Bond confirmed his selection as No. 2 on the U.S.-China Interparliamentary Exchange Group just prior to a dinner Thursday night at the Chinese Embassy in Washington attended by Gov. Jay Nixon and most members of Congress from the region.
Bond, a Republican, said his duties on the panel will be broader than trade, but that he views the new position as "a great opportunity" to promote St. Louis for the coveted cargo hub, which local politicians and business leaders have pushed for two years.
"The bottom line is that we are challenged in our economic growth, and China is overwhelmingly the emerging market where we need to be able to sell," Bond said. "We need to take advantage of that market if we are to have a good strong recovery and get the jobs that exports can bring."
Bond said he and the chair of the exchange panel, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., will leave for China on Jan. 13 for visits with officials in Beijing and Shanghai.
The panel was set up 10 years ago by Congress as a means to develop better relations with the Chinese. It serves as the diplomatic entity between the U.S. Senate and China. A counterpart committee in China dispatches representatives from the National People's Congress to the United States.
Even before his China trip, Bond intends to hold meetings with Chinese leaders to press for opening the hub a year from now, he said.
Promoters envision the regular arrival of Chinese planes flying directly to St. Louis, laden with the many goods that have become staples for American consumers -- and then returning to China packed with products from the St. Louis region.
The challenge, Bond observed, is persuading the Chinese of a sufficient flow of marketable goods from the region ranging from electric motors to vacuum-packed pork and beef.
"This is a huge undertaking," Bond said. "We've got to develop the information they need on back-hauls. They're not going to send planes here and have them going back half or two-thirds empty."
Bond said that backers of the project are pushing to begin the arrangement during the next winter shipping season a year from now.
"It's a tight planning cycle, but we'd like to start 11 months from now, if everything goes right," he said.
