What better than a bird to restrengthen US-China ties in the name of climate change? And where better to do it than our very own Jiangsu Province? But one question remains; why did California’s Governor make Yancheng a stop on his China visit?
California Governor, Gavin Newsom, arrived in China on 23 October for a 7-day visit. According to a statement issued by the Governor’s Office, Newsom took in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.
And Yancheng. With the remaining destinations all being obvious choices for a high-level visit as first-tier cities, why was Yancheng, as a third-tier city, included in the Governor’s itinerary?
With a GDP of ¥707.9 billion last year, ranking eighth in Jiangsu, Yancheng is hardly an economic star.
But what it does best, in a word, is environment.
The Governor’s focus for this trip had been on ecology and the addressing topics such as climate change and clean energy, reports The Paper.
That made Yancheng the perfect destination, coupled with the fact that Jiangsu and California have had friendly exchanges for nearly 40 years, achieving fruitful results in cooperation across various fields.
And now, Yancheng’s maritime temperament and potential for clean energy allows California to see more room for cooperation.
The Golden State is planning the development of an offshore-wind-power industry, and Yancheng is Jiangsu’s far-and-away leader in the industry. By the end of 2022, Yancheng’s offshore wind-power installed capacity accounted for 20 percent of the country and 10 percent of the entire world. With its new-energy industry set to exceed ¥150 billion, lowly Yancheng will be the first 10-million kilowatt, new-energy power generation city in the Yangtze River Delta.
Elsewhere, but still on point for the Governor, his delegation while in Yancheng also took in the tidal wetland ecosystem and biodiversity resources, and got up close and personal with red-crowned cranes. Learning about the process of the species wintering locally at the Yancheng Red-crowned Crane Reserve, a 1-year old crane walked calmly up to the visitors to then lead Newsom and his party to their car.
Before leaving, at the suggestion of their fellow travellers, Newsom and his wife took the opportunity to note this arrival of another ambassador of friendship between the two sides, naming the red-crowned crane, “California”.
