Huntsman arrives in China

BEIJING — Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. arrived in China Monday night for a week-long trade mission that kicks off Tuesday with back-to-back meetings with U.S. and Chinese officials.

The governor's schedule was still being finalized just hours before he was scheduled to meet privately with U.S. Ambassador Clark Randt over breakfast.

"This is how the game is played here," said Brett Heimburger, Asia director for the governor's office of economic development. "Everything's in flux."

Added to Huntsman's agenda Tuesday is time with the vice chairman of the National People's Congress, Cheng Si-wei, at the Great Hall of the People. It's rare for an American governor to sit down with a leader of the legislative arm of the People's Republic of China, Heimburger said.

"Just about any other governor, maybe with the exception of (California Gov.) Arnold Schwarzenegger for different reasons, probably wouldn't be able to get these meetings," Heimburger said.

Huntsman is an exception because of the contacts he made as a U.S. trade ambassador to the region.

"He's very well known within the central government," Heimburger said. "For his trade mission, people are willing to pull out all the stops."

Huntsman is also scheduled to talk Tuesday with the vice minister of China's ministry of commerce, Madame Ma Xiuhong. "They know each other well," Heimburger said, because both participated in trade negotiations between China and the United States.

The governor arrived about four hours later than expected in Beijing due to mechanical problems with the commercial airliner that kept his flight grounded in San Francisco. Although a number of businesses participating in the trade mission were also on that flight, others had already arrived on earlier flights.

Bradford Richardson, Usana Health Science's executive vice president for the Asia Pacific region, came early to meet with company staffers here. He said even though he has been coming to China since 1993, participating in the trade mission is useful.

"It's good to show up not as an individual company looking for something," Richardson said. He and other representatives of Utah's nutritional supplement and personal care product industry met Monday with officials from the State Food and Drug Administration of China.

It was a "chance to be cooperative with the government in setting standards for the industry as a whole," Richardson said. "The thing people have to understand is China is a country of relationships."