Neely's trip to China Neely's trip to China (January 28, 2005)

Matt Neely left for China in early January as mayor of Mountain View. Last week, he returned as a local ambassador to the global economy.

The trip, sponsored as an "entrepreneurs summit" by the nonprofit U.S.-China Exchange Association, lasted nine days. Neely said one of his personal highlights was the speech he gave to 250 businesspeople.

Given brochures and materials from Chinese businesses, Neely called the unprecedented rate of economic growth there "awe-inspiring."

"There's just so much opportunity to make a connection, given our population and our demographics," said Neely. "They're just going to zip by us in the blink of an eye if we don't have a better relationship."

Then-Mayor Mike Kasperzak made the same trip in 2003.
-- Jon Wiener

E-mail a friend a link to this story.