Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is pictured during an exclusive interview with Xinhua in Little Rock, Arkansas, the United States, on Oct. 23, 2017. Asa Hutchinson has vowed to safeguard Chinese investments in Arkansas and seek more business partnership during his China visit. The governor made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua recently. (Xinhua/Liu Liwei)
By Xinhua Writer Gao Lu
LITTLE ROCK, the United States, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson has vowed to safeguard Chinese investments in Arkansas and seek more business partnership during his forthcoming China visit.
The governor made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua recently.
Hutchinson, who has served as the governor of Arkansas since Jan. 13, 2015, is going to visit China for the third time on Nov.1. During the five-day tour, his delegation will visit Beijing, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai, meeting government officials and local businessmen.
In an in-depth interview with Xinhua, Hutchinson said there are three main purposes of his trip: to visit the companies that are already committed in Arkansas, to continue marketing Arkansas rice and agricultural products, and to promote Arkansas as a tourist destination for Chinese customers.
According to him, the primary purpose of the trip is to visit Chinese companies that have already invested in Arkansas "to make sure the state government is doing everything it can to facilitate the investment."
There has been big progress of Chinese investment in Arkansas in the past years. Over the last two years, four Chinese companies have announced plans to locate new facilities in Arkansas. These companies will create more than 1,500 new jobs while investing 1.4 billion U.S dollars in the state.
"The primary purpose is to visit the companies that have already indicated they would be interested in investing in Arkansas, just to make sure that those projects go smoothly," Hutchinson said.
In July, China and the U.S. have reached an agreement on inspection and quarantine protocols for U.S. rice exports to China. This was a good news for Arkansas that leads the nation in rice production. Arkansas cultivates more rice than all other U.S. states combined. The untapped Chinese market has the potential to enhance the role that the over 6 billion dollars rice industry plays in Arkansas's economy.
"We are delighted that China has opened up the market with Arkansas rice," said the governor. "This will be an opportunity to convey our thanks and excitement about Arkansas rice being marketed in China."
In terms of tourism, Hutchinson said he hopes more Chinese tourists will consider the state as a destination when traveling in the United States.
"Tourism is our number two industry in Arkansas, and I think that Chinese citizens who have visited the east and west coasts (of the U.S.) would like to visit Arkansas. We want to be able to emphasize that."
Although Arkansas values Chinese market, Hutchinson said the economic collaboration is not one-way only.
"China is an important market for Arkansas, both in terms of our consumer products, going there from rice to electronics. But it's also an important investment country for us," said the governor.
He gave an example of Arkansas-based company Walmart which has been operating in China for over 20 years where it has more than 400 retail locations. Another example is Arkansas Tyson Foods company which produces poultry in China with Arkansas brand.
"Those investments and partnerships are very important to this state," said Hutchinson.
Since 2015 when taking in office as governor, Hutchinson has made every effort in creating jobs. By emphasizing computer science education, he aimed to create the software engineers and the coding talent as needed to sustain and grow the existing industry, and to create new technology type jobs.
Chinese garment companies invested in Arkansas created opportunities for local well-trained talents.
"These are not the old-fashioned garment companies that rely upon massive amounts of human labor. They utilize robotics, they utilize technology so that if students have a good education in computer science, they will be the workforce that is needed for those types of industries," Hutchinson said.
Talking about his impression of China, the governor said the economic growth of China in the past years was remarkable.
"They continue to grow their economy and the standard of living of the Chinese people is increasing day by day. So, all of that is very positive," he said, adding, "It's much more open. And not just the leadership is globally focused, but the citizens are more globally focused as well."
U.S. President Donald Trump is to visit China between Nov. 8 and Nov. 10. That will be his first state visit to China since he took office.
Commenting on the visit, Hutchinson said Trump's visit "is a sign that the U.S.-China global relationship on trade is very important, and we're going to keep it on track."
"I'm very optimistic about the future of our relationship. China has demonstrated its very maturing economy, growing wage base that's matured to the point where you're looking for, and investment opportunities," the governor said.
