Critics Blast Newsom’s China Trip as Publicity Stunt, to ‘Burnish International Experience’

The Governor’s office released Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Chinese trip itinerary on Wednesday, showing that Newsom will take a climate-focused tour of the Country less than a month before the APEC Conference in San Francisco .

According to a press release by the Governor’s office, the seven-day trip will include stops in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the province of Jiangsu. Newsom’s tour will begin in Hong Kong, where he is set to give a speech at Hong Kong University over combatting climate change and the economy. Following a quick stop in Guangdong where he will meet with local leaders over electric vehicles and electric public transit, Newsom will go to Beijing. There, he will be joined by his wife and will meet meet with several high-level national and local officials on the climate crisis and clean energy, tour the Great Wall, meet with U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, and meet with leaders of five Chinese provinces.

After Beijing, Newsom will go south to Jiangsu, where he will visit an off-shore wind farm and a wetlands preserve before leaving for Shanghai via a high speed train. Finally, at his last shop in Shanghai, Newsom will tour the Shanghai Tesla gigafactory. In addition, Newsom is set to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at every stop besides Hong Kong with both national and local officials over climate issues.

“California and China hold the keys to solving the climate crisis,” said Newsom on his trip Wednesday. “As two of the world’s largest economies, our partnership is essential to delivering climate action for our communities and beyond.

“Our decades-long work together proves what we can accomplish together – cleaning the air, accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, protecting people from extreme weather and conserving lands and oceans.”

Newsom’s office added that “The trip is wholly focused on climate, and we are obviously a state, so I think we look to our federal partners on federal issues.

“A lot of what China has done in the EV space is actually borne out of California’s innovation on ZEV mandates from the ‘90s. But clearly, they have kind of jumped ahead in terms of adoption of electric vehicles both by individuals as well as the government.”

While Newsom has pushed California heavily towards clean energy and electric cars as Governor, such as signing laws that will have California use 100% green energy by 2045 and only sell zero emissions vehicles statewide by 2035, his trip to China has been called out by many as little more than a publicity stunt. Others, including many supporters, have also said that the trip ignores China’s many human rights issues and that the trip will include many places that have recently been a part of trade conflicts between the U.S. and China.

“This trip proves that Newsom doesn’t care about technology espionage, human rights issues, and so many other issues near and dear to Californians. Republican or Democrat, there is something that you will not like about this trip,” explained James Francis, an East Asian economic analyst, to the Globe. “China really is growing leaps and bounds over electric cars and clean energy. They are focusing heavily on that, and Newsom wants to work closely with them and follow where they have gone on the same path. That’s why the focus is heavily on clean energy and the environment. Getting closer with them there would help California reach his goals faster.”

“But he could have easily chosen another country to work closer with who has advanced as much, like maybe an ally like Japan or South Korea. But no, he is choosing China and is really showing it. Granted, California has had close deals and MOUs with China in the past through the past few Governors and Senator Dianne Feinstein. But things are a bit more dicey with China than they were 10 or 20 years ago, especially with the Taiwan situation becoming more relevant. And he just moved forward.”

“Proving he can work cordially with an economic rival to the United States and get deals done with them? That’s bona fide international experience, something which Newsom has been sorely lacking of which lately. For, say, a run for higher office, that sort of thing looks good and quells fears that he doesn’t have the needed international experience.”

“Overall, a state working closer with another country over a few issues that will benefit both isn’t bad on paper. But here, Newsom is with an international rival, one of which with a very poor record on human rights and on that spies on the U.S. all the time. This isn’t like Nixon’s China visit that helped break new barriers in the 70s. This is Newsom advancing his own agenda and getting publicity out of it.”

Newsom is set to leave for China next week.