INDIAN WELLS – Building on California’s close ties with China, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today met with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China.
The meeting, which lasted more than 40 minutes, covered an array of topics, including bilateral cooperation on: trade, investment, climate change, technology, infrastructure, tourism, education and agriculture.
During the meeting, the Governor shared the recently released consensus statement on climate change with President Xi, a document that translates key scientific findings from disparate fields into one unified message for policymakers, industry and the general public. The statement has been signed by hundreds of concerned scientists around the world and aims to improve the nexus between scientific research and political action on climate change.
Governor Brown also shared the consensus statement with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a private meeting on Friday.
Over the weekend, Governor Brown also met with a number of Chinese government officials, including: National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Xu Shaoshi, National Development and Reform Commission Deputy Director Liu He, Ministry of Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai and Chinese Consul General of Los Angeles Qiu Shaofang.
The Governor’s meeting with President Xi follows a year and a half of significant diplomatic and business exchanges between California and China, including the Governor’s Trade and Investment Mission to China in April and meetings with President Xi during his visit to California as then-Vice President of China last February.
During the Governor’s Trade and Investment Mission, Governor Brown met with China’s Premier, China’s Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, top government officials from Shenzhen, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Shanghai, China’s Minister of Commerce and China’s Minister of Environmental Protection, signing the first agreements ever between a subnational entity and Chinese Ministries.
The Governor also opened the California-China Office of Trade and Investment in Shanghai, delivered remarks on climate change at Tsinghua University in Beijing, met with the U.S. Ambassador to China at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and spoke at forums hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce – South China and American Chamber of Commerce – Beijing.
The pool report on the meeting can be read here.
For high resolution copies of these photos please contact Samuel Chiu, Office of the Governor at Sam.Chiu@gov.ca.gov.
Photo Credit: Joe McHugh