Secretary Locke is a good guy to send to China -- according to this article, the former Washington governor is apparently quite popular there: Homegrown Hero Locke Faces Test on China Trade as Tensions Lurk.
The relevance of Locke's celebrity in China is being tested this week as he travels on a trade mission with executives from companies such as General Electric Co., Duke Energy Corp. and First Solar Inc. While the visit is aimed at promoting American exports of clean-energy technology, Locke, 60, also has to tackle festering trans-Pacific tensions over China's currency and trade policies.According to Locke, the United States could fall behind China and other countries in clean energy technology unless Congress passes energy legislation. More here: U.S. could fall behind China in clean energy: Locke.
It's a change for Locke, whose encounters with his ancestral homeland were all about boosting U.S. exports when he was the Democratic governor of Washington state from 1997 to 2005, and when he was a private lawyer before joining President Barack Obama's administration last year.
"He is learning China in a national way now," Robert Kapp, the former president of the Washington-based U.S.-China Business Council and a consultant in Port Townsend, Washington, said in an interview.
Locke says his experience in China and his heritage help him in his push to promote American businesses and break down barriers to investment.