by Kenneth Schrupp
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared “California Panda Day” to highlight China-California cooperation, as scrutiny grows over Minnesota Gov. and now Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz’s close ties with China.
“Building on a strong foundation of partnership and deep cultural and economic ties, I traveled to China last year to promote priority issues, including climate action and economic development,” Newsom said in his proclamation designating Aug. 8 as “California Panda Day.”
“We hope the newly arrived pandas – ‘envoys of friendship’ – will lead to further exchanges and cooperation between California and China.”
According to California Chamber of CommerceCalifornia’s exports to China totaled $18.15 billion in 2022, while Chinese imports to California reached $147.6 billion that year.
One sec visiting China in 2023: Newsom signed a declaration and five memoranda of understanding with China on climate change.
“Specifically, our partnership and collaboration will accelerate the transition to clean energy, including offshore wind, advanced energy storage technologies, and zero-emission vehicles; reduce carbon emissions and sustain economic growth, including the role of carbon markets and climate finance; advance actions that reduce non-CO2 emissions, including methane; and increase resilience to a changing climate while protecting biodiversity.” he wrote Newsom in his statement.
China produces 80 percent world solar panels, 80 percent batteries in the world, 60 percent windmills in the world and more more than half of the electric vehicles in the world, including 80 percent the world’s zero-emission trucks and the largest share of electric buses in the world; 2018Of the 425,000 electric buses worldwide, 421,000 were in China.
The governor’s statement also said China is expanding its carbon market, suggesting that most aspects of California’s green energy revolution — from the state $53 billion climate package, carbon credit mandates, and even more local government action on electric buses and solar panels — could result in U.S. taxpayer and corporate money going to China.
Newsome’s statement comes amid the need to enhance security for Walz, who is from a compact town in Nebraska, and his ties to China. Waltz speaks Mandarin and says he has lived in the country and visited it 30 times. Walz first visited China during the Tiananmen Square massacre, later telling Congress, according to NBC, that “at that time I believed that diplomacy would happen on many levels, certainly between people, and the opportunity to attend a Chinese high school at that critical time seemed really important to me.”
As a teacher, Walz told the Nebraska Star-Herald that he had obtained funding from the Chinese government to bring American students to China. He also told the Star-Herald that “if [the Chinese] “if they had the right leadership, there would be no limit to what they could achieve.”
Walz and his wife started a company that took American high school students to China. They got married on the fifth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a decision his wife says was intentional. They honeymooned in China, taking the American students with them.
As a member of Congress, Walz has traveled to Tibet and met with the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans exiled by China, and has served on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which focused on human rights abuses in China. This suggests that Walz’s public and outspoken appreciation of China and its people may not extend to its government.
However, as governor of Minnesota, Walz is celebrated by Democrats for its push for green energy, which in today’s market means buying equipment from China — an argument Republicans were quick to attack.
“Tim Walz is a guy who wants to move more and more American manufacturing jobs to China,” Ohio senator and Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance replied. “If you care about the environment, and I certainly do, why are you going to send American manufacturing jobs to the dirtiest economy in the world? Why not keep them here?”
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Kenneth Schrupp is a California reporter Central SquareHis commentary and analysis have been published in Newsweek, RealClearPolitics, and the Pacific Research Institute.
Photo “Gavin Newsom and Xi Jinping” by California Governor BY-NC-ND 2.0.
