Gov. Otter Travels To China To Sell Idaho Products

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Gov. Otter and Idaho business leaders leave for China on April 14.

Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter is heading to China this weekend to lead an eight-day trade mission.

The governor will travel to Shanghai, Chengdu and Beijing.  His itinerary so far is vague, including only brief descriptions of daily activities.  For example:

“Daily itinerary filled with company and government meetings in Chengdu  – schedule to be confirmed”

Idaho Department of Commerce spokesperson Megan Ronk says the schedule will become more detailed closer to the trip.  “It’s a cultural thing,” Ronk says.  “They do not tend to confirm appointments [in advance].”

It’s Gov. Otter’s fourth trade-related trip to China since becoming governor.  His latest trip was back in 2010.

As the Statesman reports, the governor’s first trip to China resulted in negative backlash from Otter’s own Republican party as he and commerce officials worked to secure Chinese investments.

“There was no negative reaction — initially — when Sayer’s predecessor at Commerce, Don Dietrich, explained to the Statesman that the 2010 mission’s investment focus was based on China’s interest in establishing an economic “beachhead” in Idaho.

But when Sinomach, a Chinese national company, made two trips to the state and expressed an interest in developing a “technology zone” south of the Boise Airport, conservative bloggers and others used Dietrich’s quote to exaggerate a threat that China would take some of the state’s sovereignty.

Rumors, blogs and letters to the editor even suggested that the Chinese had designs on establishing a sovereign Chinese city on Idaho soil.

That prompted the Idaho Republican Party to pass a resolution last July urging the state to ‘cease further foreign-based corporate development of a ‘Free Trade Zone’ and approximately 60,000 acres in Idaho.'” – IdahoStatesman.com

According to the Idaho Department of Commerce, these are Idaho’s top exports to China: