They Courted Chinese Investment. Now They're Running for President
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did not attend. It was instead his trusted lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, who celebrated the foreign investment. In person.
Christie had deputized Guadagno to oversee economic development, and she brought a message from Trenton to the suburb of Bridgewater. “We stand at a ribbon cutting,” Guadagno said, surrounded by American and Chinese executives in a non-descript parking lot, “which solidifies New Jersey’s commitment to Huawei. And Huawei’s commitment to New Jersey.”
It was 2011, and the nation still reeled from recession. The Chinese telecom giant was promising hundreds of good paying jobs, not economic espionage, human rights abuses, or national security troubles. The Christie administration welcomed the win.
“This is the story,” Guadagno proclaimed, “of New Jersey’s comeback.”
A year later, Charles Ding, one of the executives at her side that day, was summoned before the House Intelligence Committee. He testified that Huawei was not a national security threat. They did not believe him. Within the decade, the Department of Justice would charge Huawei with federal racketeering and conspiracy to steal American trade secrets.
The Bridgewater facility is now closed, and Christie is once against a presidential candidate. Like other Republicans, he condemns the “communist dictatorship” in Beijing and regularly warns of a future where “China is setting the tone for this world.” His campaign declined to comment.
But Christie isn’t unique. Each of the governors who will condemn China publicly at the second GOP primary debate oversaw Chinese investment in their states. Some even courted it. For years. Their realignment cannot be dismissed simply as political opportunism, however. The conversion reflects, instead, a larger shift in national opinion, and in Republican orthodoxy, driven by the perception that China is an irresponsible economic rival and military adversary.
That, plus a once-in-a-century global pandemic that killed more than a million Americans.
Twelve years ago, when the Christie administration courted Huawei, opinion was split on the China question: 42% of Americans held an unfavorable view of the emerging superpower while 40% reported a favorable one. Had New Jersey passed on Huawei then, another state likely would have welcomed them.
Governors in 2011 were not entirely blind to the risks of doing business with Beijing, namely human rights abuses and worrying geopolitical tensions. Plenty were still certain they saw the reward. “China was widely regarded as the next big thing,” said Kyle Jaros, a professor at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, who recalled how through the first two decades of the new millennium, “many states concluded they couldn't miss out on the huge business opportunities China offered.”
“Until the past few years,” Jaros said of what may now seem like ancient history, “governors from red states and blue states alike actively courted Chinese investment, led frequent trade delegations to China, and generally favored an ‘open for business’ approach.”
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