Governor Gavin Newsom ‘Tripped Up’ in Week Long China Trip

Governor Gavin Newsom began his 6-day trip in China on Monday, arriving in Hong Kong directly from his impromptu visit to Israel over the weekend.

Last week, Governor Newsom unveiled his Chinese trip itinerary, which includes stops in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai. While Newsom officials called the trip a “climate-focused tour,” complete with visits to a wind farm and Tesla’s new Chinese gigafactory, critics have said that the tour ignores current issues with China, such as industrial espionage and human rights violations. Others contended that the trip was, at least in part, a way for Newsom to gain valuable international experience for a future run for higher office.

However, his Chinese trip timeline was somewhat thrown off late last week when he announced an impromptu visit to Israel. Meeting a mixed reception, Newsom  went to Israel over the weekend, meeting with injured soldiers and two Californians in Tel Aviv whose son was kidnapped by Hamas. He also had meetings with many high government officials, including Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

Yesterday, I listened to the grief and terror in a mother’s voice as she spoke about her son — a Californian right now being held hostage in Gaza — whose arm was blown off by a terrorist’s grenade.⁰
No one deserves to live in the kind of fear and terror that the Israeli people… pic.twitter.com/hFKbVYPmW8

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 21, 2023

Following this, Newsom went on to Hong Kong, arriving on Monday, or Sunday in Pacific time zone. There, Newsom spent the day at Hong Kong University, giving several talks on climate change, working with China on climate issues and developing technology, and a greater switch over from fossil fuels. Besides Newsom, other attendees of the University of Hong Kong Event included deputy commissioner of the Chinese foreign ministry in Hong Kong Li Yongsheng, U.S. consul general in Hong Kong Gregory May, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong Eden Woon, and former Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Elsie Leung.

In particular, Newsom spoke of China and California working together on climate issues and leading the charge on electrifying fossil fuel heavy areas such as personal vehicles and ports.

“We must radically change the way we produce and consume energy, and it won’t be enough if we act alone,” said Newsom at the talks on Monday. “This is a global crisis and it requires a global response.”

“The long-standing partnership – and competition – between California and China has led to measurable progress: electrification of ports, cleaning our air of smog and pollution, and innovating new technologies that build economies. This visit is an opportunity to share our successes, learn from one another and continue driving an ambitious climate agenda.”

When it was brought up that China and the United States are not “reliable allies,” Newsom responded to the question by saying “You can rely on California. I want you to know, regardless of what happens nationally, sub-nationally, you have a partner in the state of California.”

Newsom was then tripped up later when a rare question about human rights came up. Specifically, he was asked if working with China more closely on climate matter was only made possible by not mentioning human rights issues. The Governor responded by saying, “No, we can do many things at once.”

Yongsheng added on Monday, “China-US relations have shown positive signs of rebounding. I believe that Newsom’s visit will be productive.”

While productive and without incident, the talks on Monday, as well s Newsom’s trip in general, have brought growing controversy back in the United States and California. Many have charged Newsom with ignoring major issues with China, such as technology espionage and human rights abuses, while also ignoring more traditional American allies in the region.

“Newsom’s China focus is worrying to a lot of people,” said James Francis, an East Asian economic analyst, to the Globe. “First of all, the trip is not very popular with the many Chinese-Americans in California. They like that he is visiting the country, but they do not like him cozying up to the Chinese government like this. He’s not hitting China hard on the environment, which is odd considering that this is a climate-focused trip. Is he mentioning how factory production is so bad that it fogs up major cities with smog way worse than what used to occur in LA and Mexico City several decades ago? No. He’s saying that they need to work together on getting better electric cars.”

“It’s increasingly obvious that he wants more clean energy and electric replacements for oil and gas powered things to meet his agenda on them. I mean, why else would his office issue a press release today, while he is in China, touting that electric truck sales goals are two years ahead of schedule? He doesn’t want his banner climate change initiatives to fail ahead of a presidential run. China sees right through him wanting to have fighting climate change down as the thing he wants to be known for.”

“And in turn, Newsom isn’t speaking up on major issues with China. The oppressive government, no freedom of speech, no freedom of press, all the human rights abuses, them wanting to take Taiwan. Newsom has spoken very little about these things, and it is extremely worrying. The U.S. does have close relationships with Saudi Arabia and other countries that have major freedom restrictions, but there are some major needs there . And the U.S. and other major nations still heavily influence them to at least make some changes over time. You don’t have that with China. And Newsom doesn’t seem to understand that his silence on these issues is speaking very loudly for him.”

“Hopefully he will be more engaging on these issues while also being diplomatic. But, from what we saw on day one in Hong Kong, he is putting everything into climate this trip and is ignoring the issues that no President ever would.”

Newsom is expected to go to Guangdong on Tuesday to meet with local leaders over electric vehicles and electric public transit while also continuing to travel on to Beijing.