Jon Huntsman on China - In his own Words

President Barack Obama nominated Utah governor Jon Huntsman to be the U.S. ambassador to China on May 16, 2009.

Prior to serving as the Utah governor, Huntsman handled China-related issues as the U.S. ambassador to Singapore from 1992-1993 a later as a deputy U.S. trade representative and the U.S. trade ambassador for George W. Bush.”

The following are some excerpts and quotes from Huntsman on China-related issues:

• On China's entry into the World Trade Organization and its affect on the rule of law in China:

"When you look at the accession documents, which represent all of the efforts made leading up to China's WTO membership, you see about 1,000 pages with about 600 different obligations.

About 300 of those are based on the rule of law ... requiring legal and regulatory changes. Some of those changes have already been made, while others are contemplated." (Source: China Daily's Business Weekly on October 22, 2002.)

Significance: Many opponents to China's WTO entry say that economic reforms would not necessarily lead to political reforms in China. Here Huntsman is taking a stance that WTO entry has changed the rule of law in China.

• On How U.S. Companies can enter the Chinese market:

"I think the first step is getting to know and understand the China market. That means investing time, and it means investing one's self, as a manager or a corporate leader in the fact you will be doing business together.

It means at some level one has to develop a lao pengyou (old friend) relationship, if you will. You've got to develop some level of guanxi (interpersonal relationship) as they call it, if you're to be taken seriously in China.

This takes time and sometimes unwestern-like patience. Regardless of which product you're looking to sell or market in China, an early step should be to develop relationships and establish yourself as a credible business representative." (Source: China Daily's Business Weekly on October 22, 2002.)

Significance: Huntsman's father and brother run the Huntsman Corporation, a Utah chemical company that also partnered with Germany's BASF and three Chinese companies to build a $1 billion polyurethane chemical plant in Shanghai's Caojing chemical industrial park. He has also served as Vice-Chairman and Chair of the Executive Committee of the family company, so he knows quite a bit about running a business in China.

• On trade relations with China where he spoke at the US-China Chamber of Commerce conference in Chicago:

"Never in the history of humanity," he said, "has a trade relationship come so far so quickly."

Huntsman added China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) will do for China economically what the Shanghai Communique has done for it politically over that past 30 years.

Speaking of the need to improve trade between China and the US, Huntsman said Americans will be "relentless in the pursuit of success."

The Bush administration, he said, is "committed to making the most of China's accession to the WTO."

He referred to trade and investment as the foundation of the overall Sino-US relationship, the "most important relationship we have in the world today." (Source: China Daily's Business Weekly on November 5, 2002.)

Significance: Clearly trade issues are a priority of Huntsman. How that plays out in dealing with other Sino-U.S. issues such as environmental concerns and defense will remain to be seen.

• On the roles of the United States and China in the world in a 2006 speech he delivered on U.S.-China Relations at Shanghai Normal University:

"...the United States and China must be good examples and stewards of the Earth. We must match economic progress with environmental stewardship. The effects of industrialization are felt worldwide. In the United States our smokestacks of the Midwest caused acid rain and the destruction of our forests in the Northeast. And even in my home state, Utah - placed in the western mountain region of the United States, our state environmental regulatory agency recently had to issue warnings about consuming water fowl... due to high concentrations of mercury in the water... The mercury is blowing in from Asia; a direct result of the construction and industrialization taking place there. A stark result of how we are all interconnected."

"In 1984, President Reagan said, "To many Americans, China is still a faraway place, unknown, unseen, and fascinating." 35 years following the Shanghai Communique, signed not far from here, 22 years since President Reagan's visit to Fudan University, and years since China joined the World Trade Organization, Americans still have an enormous fascination with the mystery surrounding China." (Source: Utah's Governor's website.)

Significance: By characterizing Americans as fascinated by China and referencing environmental issues in the United States, Huntsman has humbled himself to his Chinese audience.

• On his adopted daughter from China, Gracie Mei, at the same speech:

"When I look at Gracie Mei, I do not see a child that looks different than my other children. I do not see someone who is of Chinese descent instead of Northern European ancestry. When I see Gracie Mei, I see my daughter. I see someone whose heart beats just like mine and whose spirit is just as resilient - whether it was born in rural China, like hers, or urban California, like mine. Nor do I judge her based upon any interpretation of the role of the individual in society - derived from Confucian or Jeffersonian ideals.

Rather, I see my Chinese daughter through a prism of common humanity and understanding. A reminder that the most important thing you will do with your education or that I will do as an elected official, is to improve the human condition - through better economic opportunity, education, quality of life, and security - regardless of which side of the Pacific we came from."(Source: Utah's Governor's website.)

Significance: That he adopted his daughter from China shows that Huntsman clearly has close ties to the country. Chinese leaders may also feel closer to someone who is the father of a Chinese child.