Next US Ambassador to China

[knloregon]

Gary Locke gets the nod to replace Jon Huntsman ---- (predicted to run against Obama) Locke is a very interesting fellow ----ABC but as far a I can tell, not entirely fluent in Mandarin like the outgoing Huntsman. And since he's Chinese, as Ambassador--there will probably be social settings where he is approached, and the speaker will just launch right in with Mandarin, expecting him to understand. Slight awkwardness to follow.

 

Locke grew up in Seattle, and attended the Seattle Chinese Baptist Church, close brethren to the Portland Baptist Church which I attend, so the older members of the congregation remember him as something of a precocious child--- (precocious by Chinese standards can of course, be curious by western standards).

 

His time as governor of Washington (1997--2005) was very successful---even before and after, as a shaker & mover----when I first came to Portland in 1978, you could almost imagine that Portland and Seattle were equivalent ----Boeing was extremely depressed, and Portland was vibrant as a heavy equipment manufacturing center (mostly in support of the logging industry---still healthy).

 

Unlike the lousy liberal leadership of Portland, though, (which turned inwardly to neighborhood 'livability' issues) ---leaders in Seattle (Locke among them) turned to Asia, and made early contacts, with China. Boeing of course, was the early catalyst, recognizing the emerging market of China almost from the day Deng came to power. But before long, Microsoft was also a player, and then Starbucks.. and the rest is history---Seattle raced away from Portland in almost every respect, and Locke was in the thick of it---even when he wasn't in public office (about half of that time he was in the private sector in international trade issues).

 

So he has plenty of talent, we will have to see if he can use it in what is usually a fairly ceremonial role as ambassador.