Remember this post? Remember that part of Tom Davis’ explanation for mistakenly not mentioning government restructuring in the fund-raising letter for ReformSC was that he was busy getting ready to go to China?

Well, I was going to link from that statement to some info about the China trip — but I couldn’t find any. Thinking that was pretty weird, I wrote to Tom,

Tom, this is
going to seem like a real whiplash-producing digression, but I cannot find a
word having been written anywhere about your trip to China. Was that a big
missed story? Was it intentionally kept quiet?

Maybe it
would be a good topic for an op-ed or something, if you were so inclined. How
did it go?

Here’s what he sent me about it, with the press release that I couldn’t find earlier appended:

Brad,

The meeting was great and would love to meet sometime to
tell you about it.  The main object was
to have

China

increase capital investment and trade in S.C. Currently, direct investment by

China

in our
state is $230 Million (with 1,600 jobs).

 

China

is a growing target of

South
Carolina

and other states.

China

realizes
they must follow the pattern the Japanese did in the 1970’s by increasing
imports from the

United
States

and locating manufacturing plants here.

 

While we hear about the imports into the

U.S.

from

China

regularly
in the media, we rarely hear about the export opportunities.

South Carolina

companies are
taking advantage of this growing market and our role is to help smaller and
medium-sized companies make export sales there. In only five years time,

China

as an S.C.
export market moved from number eleven in rank, to number 4 in 2006. In 2006,
exports from S.C. to

China

rose 12.5%
to more than $869 million dollars.

 

Another goal of the recent trip was to promote a China
Trade and

Investment

Park

being located in S.C.  The Chinese central government, through its
Ministry of Commerce, is considering setting up several Chinese
government-approved/designated Chinese Industrial Parks in several overseas
countries.  Letters and proposals
supporting this were sent by Commerce officials and the governor strongly
followed up on this with personal meetings with Chinese officials. 

 

We also wanted to promote Chinese Research Facilities
& Research Collaboration with SC Universities, particularly in the
manufacturing and medical areas.  In
manufacturing, one of the most likely collaborations is in relation to Haier’s
planned R&D facility in

South
Carolina

. Collaboration is also sought between

China

and

South Carolina

’s three leading
research institutions primarily in the areas of cancer research and gene
therapy. The Medical University of South Carolina is a rapidly growing research
environment. Extramural research support has consistently increased over the
past 10 years, topping $170 million last fiscal year.

 

Additionally, The South Carolina Biotechnology
Incubation Program is part of the State’s efforts to build the infrastructure
necessary to increase

South
Carolina

‘s knowledge economy and to participate in
growth of the nation’s life science industry. The J.C. Self Research Institute
of Human Genetics, a division of the

Greenwood

Genetic

Center

, serves as the academic anchor
for the Incubation Program with the collaboration of the State’s three research
universities:

Clemson

University

, the Medical University of
South Carolina, and the

University

of

South
Carolina

.

 

Finally, both

China

and

South Carolina

are challenged with
creating and retaining jobs and employment, as well as providing adequate
education and medical care in rural regions.

South
Carolina

proposes the creation of a formal collaboration
on strategies to enhance development on this challenging issue.

Clemson

University

is already in discussion
with

Tsinghua

University

to establish a training
program for Chinese government officials from the Chinese rural
areas.

 

As far as our office goes, no, this was not intentionally
kept quiet, but you are right in that it did not get a lot of press. The release
from our office on the trip is reprinted below. There were numerous other pitches for stories, but none caught on with
the press.

 

Tom

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Joel Sawyer

jsawyer@gov.sc.gov 

 

Gov. Sanford to Lead State Delegation to World Economic Forum

 

GOVERNOR TO LEAD GROUP OF BUSINESS LEADERS,

LEGISLATORS TO WORLD FORUM IN DALIAN, CHINA

 

Columbia, S.C. – September 4, 2007 – Gov. Mark Sanford will
today lead a delegation of South Carolina business leaders and legislators to
Dalian, China for the World Economic Forum’s inaugural "New Champions" meeting.

    The Dalian conference presents a unique opportunity for the
state, given that Gov. Sanford was the only U.S. governor invited to attend. The
governor will be joined by a state delegation consisting of Marty Brown,
President of Colite International; Mike Johnson, President of Cox Industries;
Forester Adams, President of Joseph Walker & Co; Derick Close, President and
CEO of Creative Products Group for Springs Industries; Guerry Green, President
Screen Tight; and O.L. Thompson, President of O.L. Thompson Construction and
Chairman of Santee Cooper. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, Rep. Nikki Haley, and Sen. Greg
Ryberg are also part of the delegation as representatives of the S.C. General
Assembly.

     "I think attending this conference is a real compliment to
some of the people who’ve worked hard on behalf of economic development over the
years in this state," Gov. Sanford said. "In the global competition for jobs and
investment, South Carolina – like these private sector companies – has both some
real challenges and opportunities in what lies ahead in today’s world. We
believe this trip will result in some real dividends for our state down the
road, both as we learn more about how to compete in this new world and in
building relationships with global business leaders."

     The World Economic Forum is an independent international
organization, best known for its Davos meeting, which is held each March in
Davos, Switzerland. The attendees are the CEO’s of the world’s top 1200
companies. With this meeting, the WEF for the first time is engaging the next
tier of businesses – the New Champions/Global Growth Companies – that have
demonstrated a clear potential to become leaders in the global economy. There
will be 1,500 attendees from 80 countries, representing business, academia and
world leaders. The typical company represented has revenues between $100 million
and $5 billion.

    For more information about the World Economic Forum and the
Dalian Conference, log on to http://www.weforum.org.

 

                        -###-

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