Chinese President Makes Brief, But Important Visit
Expect a few traffic tie-ups as his motorcade moves through Everett, Seattle, and Redmond, and expect up to a third of all jobs around Puget Sound to be tied to his every move.
President Hu will first land at Paine Field in Everett and then tour Boeing's Everett plant.
The red carpet is also awaiting the Chinese president in Redmond where Monday, Microsoft signed an extended agreement with Chinese PC maker Lenovo.
90 percent of Microsoft products in China are pirated. Lenovo now pre-installs Microsoft operating systems and the Chinese government promises a more effective crackdown on the Chinese pirating industry.
"I am confident that our global partnership will bear fruits to both companies," said Yang Yuanging, the Chairman of Lenovo Group.
"China now is the second largest internet population in the world after the U.S.," explains University of Washington professor David Bachman. "It's gonna be the number two PC market after the U.S. And unlike our market where we've reached a saturation point, there's going to be rapid growth in China as well."
Chinese leaders also just inked a deal with Boeing to buy 80 long body 737s. That's worth $4.6 billion.
And they aren't the only Washington companies poised to profit.
One hundred business and community leaders will meet President Hu and his delegation at a dinner at the Bill and Melinda Gates home.
Former Governor Gary Locke helped arrange Hu's visit. Locke says it's a chance to showcase smaller companies.
As Locke puts it, the local businesses can "help the Chinese meet their needs and objectives of modernization, improving the lives of Chinese people and at the same time creating jobs in our state," he says. "We have great medical device companies, energy efficiency companies, architectural, engineering companies that can help China clean up its environment. Research institutions like Fred Hutch with Nobel prize winners can help meet the medical needs of China."
The Port of Seattle already does a booming business with China and only stands to profit if more local companies pave the way towards more trade.
The visit will draw protest -- and already has like one in Seattle's Westlake Center Monday -- from groups who want the focus on human rights and freedom for dissident religious groups, not just on corporate profit.
President Hu's visit to Western Washington is a mere 26 hours long. But the fact that he's making the stop at all - before meeting with President Bush - is significant here and in China.
The Chinese will recognize the high profile names and companies their president is visiting.
"Places like Boeing and Microsoft, Starbucks, Costco, lots of people are involved in the China market and expecting that market to become increasingly profitable and important to overall corporate strategies," Bachman says.
Right now, China is the state's second largest trading partner and it's growing quickly. China is poised to become Boeing's second largest customer.
And a Chinese delegation recently pledged to buy $16 billion worth of U.S. products.
More than quarter of the goods will come from Washington companies.