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Obama to Name Locke as Next US Ambassador to China

   Victor Beattie  March 08, 2011
   President Barack Obama looks on as his nominee for Commerce Secretary,
   former  Washington  Gov.  Gary Locke, center, speaks in the Eisenhower
   Executive Office Building in Washington, Feb 25, 2009.

Photo: AP

   President Barack Obama looks on Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, center,
   speaks  in  the  Eisenhower  Executive  Office  Building in Washington
   (FILE).

   President  Obama is expected to nominate Commerce Secretary Gary Locke
   to be the next ambassador to China on Tuesday.

   Secretary  Locke  would  replace  Jon  Huntsman, who is resigning next
   month amid speculation he may seek the Republican Party's presidential
   nomination.

   Locke,  whose  father and grandfather were born in China, is the first
   Chinese-American to become commerce secretary.

   He  served  two  terms  as  governor  of  the  northwestern  state  of
   Washington  and  was the first Chinese-American governor in the United
   States.  He  strongly  promoted  trade  with  China during his time in
   office, leading several trade missions to the country.

   VOA's  Victor  Beattie spoke with two China watchers about the pending
   nomination:  first, Peter Beck, a Council of Foreign Relations Hitachi
   fellow  at Tokyo's Keio University, who says Locke's ethnic background
   and perspective will not be lost on the Chinese people.

   Listen to the interview with Peter Beck

   Victor  also  spoke  with Mike Chinoy, senior fellow at the U.S.-China
   Institute  at  the  University  of  Southern  California,  and current
   lecturer at the Chinese University in Hong Kong. Chinoy says Locke has
   a long history of dealing with China back from his days as governor of
   Washington state.

   Listen to the interview with Mike Chinoy

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