China’s Washington State Connections

When we first starting writing this blog nearly ten years ago, we often heard from people surprised by our having an international law firm based in Seattle. Why Seattle, we were often asked. Back then I would patiently (well patiently for me anyway) explain how Washington State is more dependent on and probably more open to international trade than any other state. Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, Expeditors International, Weyerhaeuser, Paccar…. the list of trade dependent companies here goes on and on.

And then I would explain how so many of the small and medium sized companies our firm mostly represents are also international. Software companies, fishing companies, education companies, timber companies….that list goes on and on as well.

Only over time though have I come to realize how unique Washington is when it comes to its internationalism. I saw it as a huge baseball fan when it looked like a group of Japanese businesspeople from Nintendo were going to buy the team. Friends would call to ask how up in arms Seattle was about its team being sold to foreigners. I would have to tell them that absolutely nobody, including the local media, had raised that as an issue; that we were all just focused on keeping the team in town. They would say things like, “well it would be very different here in Chicago/Cincinnati/Milwaukee/St. Louis, I’m telling you that.” And then there are the clients from various parts of the country who tell me of how they have been berated even for doing business with China or Vietnam, by people who ask them if they do not realize that they are “the enemy.” And now we get Donald Trump….

Now I am not going to say that this sort of thing does not happen in Washington, because it absolutely does. And it happens in Seattle too. But I think it happens in Seattle probably (and I have to say probably because there is no way to know) less than just about everywhere else. And that is due not just to its location and to its being a key Pacific port, but also to its history (which I realize is based on its location and to its being a key Pacific port).

I thought of the Washington State Asia connection the other day when a reader brought my attention to a new website set up to highlight that. The website is called the Washington Watch Digest, and it was created as a labor of love by Wen Liu (刘雯), who has also written a couple of books on the Washington-China connections: My First Impression of China: Washingtonians’ First Trips to the Middle Kingdom and Connecting Washington and China: The Story of The Washington State China Relations Council.

My favorite part of her new website is the page detailing Washington State’s history with China since 1973. Thanks to Senators Henry M. Jackson and Warren Magnuson, Washington State has always punched above its weight when it comes to foreign policy, including China. I also greatly enjoyed the page on China-related Washington luminaries, especially since it contains my ugly mug.

I recommend you check out Ms. Liu’s site.

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