Bay Area Council Applauds Gov. Newsom on Announcing China Trip to Highlight Climate Issues

The Bay Area Council today applauded Gov. Newsom’s announcement that he will lead a group of California government officials to China in October to advance mutual goals and partnership for addressing climate change.

“The Bay Area Council commends Governor Newsom for his leadership in forging a partnership between our state and China on climate change,” said Jim Wunderman, President and CEO of the Bay Area Council. “Despite growing national tensions between the U.S. and China, the announcement of his climate-focused delegation to China is a reminder to the world that California will always leadership and progress on critical issues ahead of politics. Turning back the threat of a changing climate will not happen without partnership between the world’s largest economies. The timing of the Governor’s trip ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit in San Francisco in mid-November sends a clear message to Chinese leadership that they are welcome and must play a leading role to address this global challenge. We are in full support of the Governor’s trip and hope it can help set a new tone for the U.S. and China in working productively on climate change.

“While Sino-US relations have plunged to their lowest point in decades, the Bay Area Council has worked diligently in partnership with the State of California to maintain a constructive subnational relationship with provinces and cities across China throughout the Pandemic. We have cohosted the annual US States and Chinese Provinces Economic Forum, we have maintained a presence at the China International Import Expo for all of California, and we have led our own efforts to build climate partnership through the California Resilience Challenge. We view the Governor’s trip as an affirmation of the importance of this work. It is our hope that this delegation is the inflection point in US-China relations that returns us to the path of peace and prosperity.”

The Council, which partners with the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to represent the California Trade and Investment Network in China, has worked with previous administrations in helping organize delegation visits to China.