Schwarzenegger Prepares For Six-Day China Trade Tour

Industry News :: Schwarzenegger Prepares For Six-Day China Trade Tour

Written for the web by Jason Kobely, Internet News Producer

Just days after a crushing political loss in California's special election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will work to rehabilitate his political image as he embarks on a long-scheduled trade tour of China and Hong Kong.

Schwarzenegger and a group of nearly California 80 business leaders will leave the U.S. Sunday with stops in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong to promote trade across the Pacific Rim.

"It's an emerging country, the market's opened up and it's dying for technology and consumer goods," said Sacramento-based McWong International CEO Margaret Wong, one of the entrepreneurs accompanying Schwarzenegger on the trip. "This is a golden opportunity."

Beginning with an appearance at a Beijing Special Olympics ceremony Monday, Schwarzenegger is scheduled to take part in a whirlwind round of business meetings to increase foreign interest in California products.

Other items on the governor's schedule include a speech at Qinghua University, a steel factory tour and a film premiere in Shanghai. Movies are expected to be a key component of the governor's trip as Schwarzenegger attempts to speak with Chinese officials about taking greater action to stop the increased spread of pirated American films, music and software overseas.

CSU Sacramento political communications professor Barbara O'Connor thinks the governor's superstar status throughout Asia could help the cause of protecting the intellectual property of the U.S. entertainment industry. "It could very well work on this intellectual copywrite issue because much of it is movie copying and he certainly has credibility there," O'Connor said.

The trip will be Schwarzenegger's third tour abroad. The governor visited Israel, Germany and Japan in 2004. Officials have high hopes for the China tour as California continues to expand its trade relationship with the world's most-populous nation. According to the California Chamber of Commerce, California exports to China totalled $6.8 billion in 2004, doubling trade export figures from 2000.

Originally scheduled for April, the governor's trip was postponed so Schwarzenegger could focus on qualifying his state reform initiatives for the special election ballot.

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