NEWS UPDATE FROM STATE REPRESENTATIVE DAVID GOMBERG: China Trip Review

Earlier in the day, our group visited the enormous Weifang Kite Museum. Old friends had gathered to reminisce, and the atrium was filled with enlarged photos of a much younger David Gomberg at the festival. I was presented with a large kite that married old traditions with new technologies. I also received carved name stamps for Susan and myself.

• First, we are ready to foster future relations. We are willing to actively promote the establishment of a state-province relationship between Shandong Province and the State of Oregon and carry out multi-level exchanges. At the state-province level, we can establish a Shandong–Oregon exchange mechanism focusing on regular exchanges and collaboration in government, economy and trade, agriculture, and other fields. At the city-county level, we support Weifang, Qingdao, Zibo, Jining and other cities and counties in strengthening ties with relevant cities and counties in Oregon.

• Second, we are ready to deepen economic development and trade. We are willing to actively promote exchanges with Oregon in sustainable development, aerospace, high-end equipment, and other fields. We suggest that the economic, trade and commerce departments of Oregon work with the Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce and the Shandong Council for the Promotion of International Trade to organize mutual visits of enterprises in relevant fields and hold events such as industry roadshows.

• Third, we are ready to strengthen agricultural alignment. Oregon has a developed modern agriculture industry and rich experience in wheat cultivation and marine ecological protection. Shandong is a major agricultural and fishery province in China, and there is broad space for collaboration between the two sides.

• Fourth, we are ready to expand people-to-people exchanges. We sincerely invite Speaker Pro Tempore to attend events such as the Shandong International Friendship Cities Cooperation and Exchange Week held in our province every spring, the Weifang International Kite Festival, and the Kite Carnival held in autumn. We look forward to your help to advance people-to-people and cultural exchanges and allow the friendship across the Pacific to fly higher and higher and grow ever closer.

Shandong now has agreements with Connecticut, Georgia, and Texas. I told Madam Ge I could say with certainty that Oregon on the Pacific was much closer to Shandong than those states on the Atlantic and the Gulf. We both have universities that could benefit from student, academic, and scientific exchanges. We both are agricultural regions that could benefit from trade and sharing of ideas and advances. We both have excellent fishing fleets and could enjoy each other’s produce. We both are manufacturers of equipment, machinery and electronics. We both have ports and could benefit from more trade.

The Governor reminded me with a smile that we also both fly kites. She concluded by suggesting Oregon and Shandong consider a formal sister relationship.

Susan and I first traveled from Beijing to Weifang on a slow twelve-hour overnight train. We shared a sleeping compartment with bunk beds with an older, quiet Chinese couple.

This time, our group zipped from Beijing to Weifang on a 90-minute bullet train, and I found myself wishing we had high-speed rail at home as well. Five-star hotels were the norm where robotic hotel carts delivered luggage to rooms and meals were exquisite. We passed forests of 30-story apartment complexes, gleaming skyscrapers that lit up at night, wide and efficient boulevards, and there were trees and flowers everywhere.

I learned that life expectancy had increased by five years since my last visit. Solar provides a quarter of the power and they expect that to reach 50% in ten years.

In short, what I saw was remarkable progress. And I well understand the cost of that progress.

China leads the world in renewable energy manufacturing and deployment but remains the largest annual greenhouse gas emitter and still relies heavily on coal. The U.S. has lower total annual emissions and higher industrial carbon efficiency, but a much higher per-capita carbon footprint and larger historical emissions.

That is just one example that the US and China have very different strengths and weaknesses. Our history, culture and politics are different. And despite our differences—or perhaps because of them—we have much we can learn and much we can teach or share.

(While I was gone, it was announced that the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port, or PCIP, project had received nearly $205 million for the Coos Bay Rail Line, which would carry the shipping containers from the port to market.)

Our small delegation visited six cities and four provinces, and I spoke at two major conferences. The first was the Legislators Forum for Friendly Exchanges in Tianjin. It was hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and brought together nearly 100 legislators from 55 countries.

After the opening ceremony, CPAFFC President Yang Wanming met with our delegation. I shared that I was impressed by how modern Tianjin Port is, noted that Oregon is exploring new opportunities in port development, and expressed hope for closer exchanges on port development and trade.

That afternoon, I addressed the forum’s session on Green Development and Regional Coordination.

Included in my remarks was this observation: “I come from Oregon, a state where our identity and our economy are closely connected to our natural environment. We are blessed with forests, rivers, mountains, farmland, and a magnificent Pacific coastline. For us, the question of how to achieve economic development while protecting the environment is not an abstract question. It is a practical responsibility to our communities and to future generations.”

We toured Tianjin Port Smart Zero-Carbon Terminal. Tianjin is home to the largest comprehensive port in northern China and ranked eighth in the world for container traffic. Most of their core operations run without on-site staff, using AI and robotics to offload, organize and transport the big shipping boxes. All of its power comes from wind and solar, and it is described as the world’s first large container terminal with zero carbon emissions across its full operating cycle.

We visited Tiangong University’s Center for Chinese Artifact Art, which pairs university faculty with master artisans to teach new generations the traditional arts of lacquer, ceramics, embroidery, and silversmithing.

The delegation toured the Hanting District National Modern Agricultural Industrial Park and saw how Shandong uses technology to modernize farming. We saw acres of new greenhouses and the testing of melons and green radish. Shandong and Oregon are both major agricultural regions, with opportunities to work together on ag technology, water use, and workforce training.

We visited JA Solar’s Shijiazhuang manufacturing base. JA Solar is one of the world’s leading solar companies, and the group saw its automated production of solar modules first-hand.

The delegation also visited Junlebao’s dairy farm and research institute to learn about Chinese modern dairy herds, quality control, and nutrition research. Oregon, of course, has a strong dairy industry, which gives the two sides a solid basis for exchange in livestock and dairy science.

Our delegation attended the opening of the conference, themed “Jointly Strengthening Friendship Cities Cooperation for Common Urban Development.” CPAFFC Vice President Lu Xiangdong moderated. International speakers included former Moldovan President Igor Dodon, Rwanda Secretary General Valens Uwineza, and former Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă.

After the opening ceremony, I was scheduled to address the conference’s main forum. It was a big room and a big crowd. In the back, translators worked in soundproof booths to simultaneously translate speeches into seven languages and attendees listened over earbuds.

I spoke about my own experiences in China and the importance of people-to-people exchanges.

Formal agreements are only the beginning, I said. A relationship becomes real when people keep showing up. Communication is easier than ever. We can video conference, email, and text. But trust evolves over a handshake, a shared meal, and genuine progress.

Documents detail our intentions. But success must be measured by real results.

I pointed to more than forty years of results since Oregon and Fujian became sister states in 1984, and Portland and Suzhou became sister cities in 1988. I cited Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden, built with the help of Suzhou artisans. I referenced China as Oregon’s largest trading partner—$5.4 billion in goods exports (19% of total goods exports).

China remains one of the most consequential markets for a broad range of Oregon products and services, including agricultural commodities, consumer and industrial goods, clean-technology inputs, and advanced manufactured products. Oregon’s export profile—particularly in semiconductor-related products, agriculture, and globally recognized outdoor, athletic, and consumer product ecosystems—depends on access to large-scale international markets. In that context, China is not simply another trading partner; it is a market of sufficient scale to influence production, investment planning, supply-chain stability, and the commercial confidence of Oregon businesses.

I described the Oregon-China Sister State Committee, which Oregon law establishes as a framework for turning friendship into action. And I told my own story: our first trip to Weifang in 1989, the family we met there who became friends and then business partners, and our small company’s growth into the fifth-largest seller of kite products in the U.S.

Cities everywhere face similar challenges in housing, transportation, the environment, heritage, new industries, and rural development. We should learn from each other’s successes and failures. Partnerships should be judged not by agreements signed but by what they create in education, business, and stronger communities.

I closed by saying collaboration is still about people, still built on trust, and still depends on the willingness to keep showing up. I hoped every participant would leave the conference with at least one new connection and one concrete idea to put into action.

Almost every day, Chinese media interviewed me about the visit. Most reports were, of course, posted in Chinese. But there were a few English stories. Check these links to hear me joking about robotic dogs, reminiscing with old kite friends, and talking about international trade and ports.

Everything went well—except our trip home. Flights were delayed and then cancelled. Travel that took weeks to book was painfully re-booked on our phone apps. Connections were missed. At close to midnight in Los Angeles, we were given hotels before our 6 am flight north. And finally—finally—Susan met me at PDX.

I think Marco Polo got home from China faster than we did!

The delegation thanks the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries for its invitation and careful planning. We thank the Oregon-China Council for their support. We also thank the governments and foreign affairs offices of Tianjin, Beijing, Hebei, Shandong and Shaanxi for their warm hospitality. Special thanks go to Mr. Li Zhe of CPAFFC’s Department of American and Oceanian Affairs, who traveled with the delegation for the entire trip.

I hope and trust our work was meaningful, and back in Oregon, I’ll be working to turn opportunities into real results.

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