A Western Governors' Association trip to China led by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. set for later this month was postponed Tuesday because of concerns surrounding the swine flu outbreak.
Huntsman and at least three other Western governors were to have spent a week beginning May 16 in Beijing and Xian meeting with provincial and national leaders in China about clean energy development.
But the decision was made to postpone the trip until August or September to allow the governors to deal with the outbreak, Huntsman spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley said.
Chris McKinnon, the association's senior policy adviser, said the Chinese Embassy was to have been told the trip was postponed "out of a sense of caution. … Obviously they are our hosts so we hope rescheduling in August or September will work for them."
Huntsman will still leave the state for a five-day Utah trade mission to Israel set to start Sunday, Roskelley said. Huntsman will head up a group of Utah companies looking for new business opportunities in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
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Lisa Riley Roche covers politics for the Deseret News/KSL news division, producing content for the newspaper, the TV and radio stations, and both deseretnews.com and ksl.com. She has been a reporter for more than 25 years, more ..
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I would rather be in China with this Swine Fu outbreak than here in the US or Utah! They do what it takes to contain it, and don't give in to parents upset their kids school is shut down so they might miss a day of work, who knows what they would do More..
The Guv's just didn't want to be under house arrest in some Chinese hotel until the outbreak is over.
The governor should cancel this trip because it is an improper use of taxpayer money, not because he is afraid of germs.