Texas asks for more (and easier) travel visas for Chinese businessmen

Jan. 25, 2011 - PRLog -- A Chinese delegation in Houston on Monday pushed for more trade between Texas and China and urged the U.S. to make it simpler for members of such economic missions to get travel visas.

About 130 Chinese diplomats and entrepreneurs visited the city in advance of Chinese President Hu Jintao's meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington today. But some who had hoped to join the delegation didn't receive visas in time.

Patrick Cooke, Vice-President of U.S. Sales and Marketing of China Elite Focus, said "Chinese businessmen who apply for business visas for the U.S. should have it more easily, because they are bringing new businesses to the country, and will also, on a personal level, spend big in luxury retail stores during their visit."

Wang Chao, China's vice minister of commerce, said he hopes the U.S. government will facilitate granting visas to Chinese business owners.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, said the government must ensure national security but also promote business development by welcoming such delegations.

The group will also visit Washington, Chicago and Raleigh, N.C., during the trip, aimed at drumming up more business between their country and the United States.

Texas imported $16.2 billion in goods and services from China and exported $8.9 billion there in 2009, said James Chen, regional director of economic development and tourism from the office of Gov. Rick Perry. An added $574 million in trade will result from six agreements signed Monday by Texas and delegation officials.

Trade and investment could be stimulated further by nonstop air service between Houston and China and the presence in Houston of a Chinese bank branch, Greater Houston Partnership President and CEO Jeff Moseley said. He also expressed hope that a Chinese automobile manufacturer one day will open a plant in Texas.

Doug Childers, a director at Morris Architects and one of several local business people who went with Mayor Annise Parker on a trade visit to China, remarked on the pace of building in Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing. "Every city is still a sea of construction cranes," Childers said.

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