March 9th, 2011
11:01 AM ET
10 years ago
Obama picks Commerce Secretary Locke as new China envoy
Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama said Wednesday he will nominate Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as the next U.S. ambassador to China to succeed Jon Huntsman, who will step down April 30.
"We could not have better representation of the United States of America in this critical relationship than the Locke family," Obama said in a brief White House announcement with Locke at his side.
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Wonderful. An actual Chinese-American as the Ambassador to China.
I think Jon Huntsman has a better chance in 2016 than 2012, since lots of his notable fellow Republicans are in the pool and they start running earlier.
In my view, Gary Locke is one of the best Democratic choices for 2016. He's once a lawmaker, governor; now a US Secretary, and a soon-to-be US Ambassador.
In that way, it would be very interesting if both "honorable ambassadors" Huntsman and Locke run in 2016, one on Republican ballot, the other on Democratic ballot.
Hopefully these people are fully vetted and investigated. This country is crawling with spies and a lot of them are Chinese. A LOT of what they have, they have stolen from us.
Is this a promotion or demotion for Gary Locke?