WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Did Gov. Shumlin change his position on doing business with China?

Did Gov. Shumlin change his position on doing business with China?

Posted: Updated:
By Darren Perron - bio | email
MONTPELIER, Vt. -

There's some confusion over the position of Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vermont, on China as a trading partner. On the campaign trail, he criticized Gov. Jim Douglas about his trips to court Chinese investment in Vermont. But now Shumlin is heading to California for a meeting on economic issues with Vice President Joe Biden and China's vice president.

"Every day, I am looking to bring jobs to the state and if I can develop a relationship with the incoming president of China, I'll make the flight to do that," Shumlin said Wednesday.

But while he was a candidate for governor in October 2010, he criticized his Republican opponent and then-Governor Douglas.

He said then in an interview with WCAX News, "I do not think the answer to our economic problems is junkets to China."

He was referring to a trip Gov. Douglas made to China. Douglas met with foreign investors interested in the EB-5 program. That's where investors contribute $500 million to a project, like the expansion at Jay Peak. In return, they get Green Cards.

Just before the election, Shumlin said the Douglas administration was losing jobs to China, not creating them. He pointed to Tubbs, which moved its manufacturing overseas.

Shumlin told WCAX News, "As Brian Dubie and others have traveled to Asia, they have taken more jobs with them than they brought back to Vermont. In their tenure in the last decade, we have lost over 6,000 jobs to Asia."

But Wednesday, Shumlin said he thinks China could be an important investing partner with Vermont.

"I did not say that it was not wise to reach out to China for huge economic opportunities when we can," Shumlin said. "Listen, the vice president of the United States asked me and four other governors to meet with the incoming president of China and other governors from China. I am honored to have been invited and obviously I am going to make the trip to do that."

The governor reiterated his support for the EB-5 program and says it could lead to job creation in Vermont.

He meets with Vice President Joe Biden and the Chinese vice president on Friday.

  • Local News

  • Thursday, May 24 2012 1:24 AM EDT2012-05-24 05:24:05 GMT
    A meeting with federal regulators -- designed to update residents on the safety status of Yankee Nuclear  -- turned into a protest.As the minutes ticked toward 7 p.m. Wednesday night, it appeared the official
    A meeting with federal regulators -- designed to update residents on the safety status of Yankee Nuclear  -- turned into a protest.

  • Wednesday, May 23 2012 11:54 PM EDT2012-05-24 03:54:59 GMT
    Former Republican Vermont Lieutenant Governor T. Garry Buckley has died. Buckley's family says he died peacefully of old age in Stowe, where he lived with his wife.  He became Lieutenant Governor in 1977
    Former Republican Vermont Lieutenant Governor T. Garry Buckley has died.

  • Wednesday, May 23 2012 4:19 PM EDT2012-05-23 20:19:29 GMT
    Skeletal remains have been discovered off a back road in Northfield. Vermont State police say an excavator working at a job site on Clark Road unearthed a portion of a human skull two weeks ago. The State
    Vermont State police say an excavator working at a job site in Northfield found human remains.

  • Wednesday, May 23 2012 8:14 PM EDT2012-05-24 00:14:46 GMT
    Firefighters are at the scene of a three-story apartment building fire in Bethlehem, N.H.
    Fire ripped through an apartment complex Wednesday morning-- a week before it was due to go on the auction block.

  • Wednesday, May 23 2012 5:55 PM EDT2012-05-23 21:55:29 GMT
    Crews are on the scene of a big motel fire in Beekmantown, New York this morning. Several departments are battling the blaze. Portions of the building are a total loss, but we are told everyone was safely
    A fast-moving fire displaced more than a dozen people at a motel in northern New York. And this is not the first major fire there.

  • Wednesday, May 23 2012 4:36 PM EDT2012-05-23 20:36:53 GMT
    Evacuations Wednesday at the building that houses the governor's office. State employees at the Pavilion Building in Montpelier began feeling ill with headaches and watery eyes. So the government building
    Evacuations Wednesday at the building that houses the Vermont governor's office.

  • Wednesday, May 23 2012 12:29 PM EDT2012-05-23 16:29:13 GMT
    Two hikers had to be rescued last night off of Hunger Mountain in Middlesex. Both hikers are in their twenties. They called 9-1-1 after it got dark and they couldn't find their way down the mountain.

    Two hikers had to be rescued Tuesday night off Hunger Mountain in Middlesex.

  • Wednesday, May 23 2012 6:23 PM EDT2012-05-23 22:23:20 GMT
    Police are searching for an elderly man who disappeared two nights ago. Edouard Jette, 80, was last seen Monday evening leaving his girlfriend's house in Swanton. He was headed home to Fairfield. Jette
    Police say an elderly man who disappeared two night ago has been found safe.