N. Nick Perry – Joe Biden’s nominee for Ambassador to Jamaica – participated in a lawmaker’s delegation to China aimed at “building friendship” with Chinese Communist Party officials and establishing business ties.
Perry, who’s served as a member of the New York State Assembly for three decades, joined an Asian American Business Development Center’s (AABDC) “Trade Mission to China” in September 2006. Previous trip participant and New York State Senator Malcolm Smith explained the purpose behind the trip as “provid[ing] us with a foundation to build friendship and an ongoing dialogue with Chinese government officials and business leaders” in an AABDC document chronicling Perry’s delegation.
Among the projects AABDC highlighted as one of its successes – in addition to Perry’s China trade mission – was assisting with the outsourcing of American jobs, noting it was helping “an American manufacturer [that] is seeking Chinese factories for order fulfillment.”
A summary of Perry’s trip reveals the China visit aimed to “enhance understanding of the Chinese government’s role in the country’s economic development and growth”:
The delegates’ first-hand experience of China gave them an enhanced understanding of the Chinese government’s role in the country’s economic development and growth. This, in turn, has provided these New York State legislators with a greater ability to effectively address their own constituents’ interests and concerns regarding doing business with China.
To do so, Perry’s delegation “met with Chinese government officials” in “every city [they] visited,” including events such as private dinners hosted by the National People’s Congress. During the trip, Perry, his fellow delegation members, and AABDC executives also “presented a gift” to the Chinese Communist Party Secretary of the Haining Municipality.
Perry provided a testimonial upon returning from the trip, praising the Chinese Communist Party’s development of China:
The economic development of China is remarkable. What stood out for me in all three cities was that even though they are ancient urban areas, I never had the sense that I was in an old city; everywhere, new construction and building is happening!
