Gov. Jerry Brown heads to China to boost trade and investment

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is greeted by California Governor Jerry Brown as Commerce Secretary John Bryson looks on at the JW Marriott hotel before attending the 2012 US-China Economy and Trade Cooperation Forum in Los Angeles. Photo by Robert Gauthier/LA Times.

Gov. Jerry Brown is heading to China this week to promote California to Chinese investors and expand our economic ties.

On the agenda for the six-day trip is the opening of a California trade and investment office in Shanghai, the first since the state closed its two Chinese trade offices a decade ago.

Brown and his entourage will also visit electric car-maker BYD in the southern city of Shenzhen, and Brown will also use the trip to ride China’s advanced high-speed rail system and promote California’s plans for a bullet train.

The trip is being funded with private money by a group of business leaders from the Bay area and Silicon Valley.

For more on China’s economic ties with California, KCRW’s Steve Chiotakis spoke with Clayton Dube, head of the UC-China Institute at the University of Southern California.