California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
Would you like Gavin Newsom to be President of the United States? The question has become more relevant this week after the governor of California wrapped up an international trip. Within a week, the local president met with two world leaders. First with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel in the midst of the conflict with Hamas, and then a trip to Asia that culminated in a meeting with Xi Jinping. He was the first United States governor to visit the Asian giant’s capital in four years. The meeting, which takes place this Wednesday, comes at a time of growing tensions between Washington and Beijing, caused by the opening of several flanks that have geopolitically opposed the powers.
“We need to engage with China again, not with closed fists, but with an open hand,” Newsom said in an interview with CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour after his meeting with Xi. The governor said he believed his reception at the palace, a meeting in which the American press was not allowed to attend, was a sign of a new phase between American politicians and the Communist Party authorities. “The relationship has been very stressful in the past, we need to lower the temperature a little and manage our strategic differences and reconcile our strategic boundaries which have been well defined by the two countries,” he added. In short, he said that divorce could not be an option between the powers.
Newsom has said for months that he doesn’t care about the race for the White House. Some analysts, particularly conservatives, believe the politician could enter the race as a last-minute candidate. This will happen if Biden, whose popularity has plummeted and who is criticized for his age, decides not to run for re-election. Others say the governor, who represents no authority on foreign policy, is trying to raise his international profile with trips like this week in which he abandoned the national playbook to move toward the global agenda.
The local leader, who has a popularity rating of nearly 60% but is little known outside his state, surprised last week by moving up the start of his tour and making a surprise stop in Tel Aviv. He arrived in this city minutes after 4:00 a.m. on Friday, October 20th. His visit, which lasted just a few hours, followed that of President Joe Biden, who met with the Israeli prime minister on October 18, 11 days after the Hamas attack on Israeli soil.
“I had to do something other than make a statement condemning the attack,” Newsom told CNN. At just a few events, he met with survivors of the Islamist militia offensive and with the family of a 23-year-old young man of Californian origin, who was among more than 220 people kidnapped by Hamas. Medical equipment and supplies were also delivered to care for the wounded in hospitals. “I represent the largest state in the country, an economy that would be the fifth largest in the world on its own, but I also represent a state that has the second largest population of American Jews,” Newsom said this week, saying he is in favor of the solution both states.
In doing so, the 56-year-old governor joined a small group of Americans who have experienced firsthand the conflict shaking the Middle East. Standing in front of him alongside Biden were five senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and some Republican lawmakers, such as former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Louisiana Representative Bill Cassidy.
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However, Newsom had another ace up his sleeve: the interview with Xi Jinping, which had not been announced. He is the first California representative to do so since his predecessor, Jerry Brown, in 2017. The governor began his Asia tour in Hong Kong, where he met with university students to discuss climate change. This beginning was more in line with the expectations of a local ruler abroad. China is one of California’s largest trading partners, as it represents the state’s eighth largest source of revenue. Its annual imports amount to about 147,000 million dollars.
The governor assured that he discussed several issues with Xi. The fight against climate change was the focus of their meetings. California announced last year that it would ban the sale of gasoline cars starting in 2035, a key decision for the state to reach zero emissions in 2045. China, on the other hand, aims to reduce its emissions in 2030 and be neutral for three more decades. late.
Newsom also addressed other pressing issues. One of them is the presence of fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opiate that has flooded the streets of the United States, particularly in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, causing an epidemic. Newsom assured journalists accompanying him who were not present at the meeting that he had spoken with the highest Chinese authority about the chemical precursors that are being shipped in Asia, arrive in Mexico and then continue their deadly path to cities across the United States. . “It takes at least one person’s life every day in San Francisco,” he said.
No longer with Xi, but with other high-ranking authorities such as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng, he dared to raise human rights issues in Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan. The governor even claims to have requested the release of David Lin, a California citizen imprisoned in China since 2006.
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