Washington — The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as U.S. ambassador to China, the first Chinese American to hold the post in American history.
Locke succeeds Ambassador Jon Huntsman, the former Republican governor of Utah, who recently asked to step down. Locke was nominated by President Obama March 9 at a White House ceremony attended by Locke and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
“As one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, our relationship with China is one of the most critical of the 21st century,” Obama says. “Continued cooperation between our countries will be good for America, it will be good for China, and it will be good for the world.”
“As the grandson of a Chinese immigrant who went on to live the American dream, Gary is the right person to continue this cooperation,” the president added.
The Senate confirmed Locke on a voice vote July 27 as the United States and China are working to improve nation-to-nation relations through regular visits and consultations on bilateral, regional and global political, economic and security issues. Clinton just completed a 12-day diplomatic mission across five nations, which included visits to Hong Kong and Shenzhen, where she met with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo on July 25.
Locke’s grandfather left China more than 100 years ago aboard a steamship bound for the United States, where he worked as a domestic servant for a family in Washington state in return for the opportunity to learn English. “A century later, his grandson will return to China as America’s top diplomat,” Obama said at the time of his nomination.
Locke was also the first Chinese-American state governor when he was elected in Washington state in 1996, and he worked as governor to attract jobs and business to his state. Locke joined the Obama administration in 2009 to be the president’s chief advocate for America’s businesses, specifically its exports abroad. As part of that assignment, Obama said he asked Locke to continue to make progress on the U.S.-China bilateral relationship.
During the past two years, Locke has overseen an increase in American exports — particularly exports to China, a country the United States recently signed trade deals with that will support 235,000 American jobs. Locke was also the president’s lead official for his National Export Initiative, which is designed to make the United States more competitive globally in trade and double U.S. exports of goods and services over five years. In 2010, the United States increased exports to China by 34 percent.
“My father never imagined that one of his children could ever serve as the secretary of commerce in the United States of America,” Locke said at the White House announcement. “And he was beaming with pride, Mr. President, the day you presided over my swearing-in ceremony.”
Locke said his father, a combat veteran of World War II who served in Europe, died in January, but said “it would be one of his proudest moments to see his son named the United States ambassador to his ancestral homeland.”
“I’m going back to the birthplace of my grandfather, my father, my mom and her side of the family, and I’ll be doing so as a devoted and passionate advocate for America, the country where I was born and raised,” Locke said.
Locke told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a confirmation hearing that the protection and the promotion of liberty and freedom are fundamental tenets of U.S. foreign policy, which he will advocate in his capacity as U.S. ambassador. And he told senators that he would fight for U.S. businesses and the protection of intellectual property rights.