Gavin Newsom is an admirer of China’s success, according to Beijing

Chinese state media incorporated the California governor's visit into domestic propaganda while sending a message to Biden on how Xi Jinping and his government want to be treated.

A gray-haired Gavin Newsom stands in the center of a cluster of Chinese reporters who eagerly stick their microphones to his smiling face. Slowly putting on his blue suit jacket that matches his blue tie, the 56-year-old charming governor of California tells reporters how much he was impressed by China’s development.

“I have been inspired by the extraordinary advancements in the last few years,” Newsom says, referring to the electric bus system he just toured in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, China. “Being able to scale this kind of bus network throughout an entire city in just a few years is just extraordinary. We have a lot of aspirations similarly in California. But I have never seen it done on this scale at this level.”

Newsom is in the middle of his weeklong China trip that kicked off on Monday. Clips of him praising China’s achievements and wishing China success have been posted and shared by local and central government controlled media outlets on China’s internet, gaining thousands of likes from netizens.

In another viral clip, Newsom can be seen sitting in the driver seat of a BYD electric car and looking, in excitement, at the car taking a tank turn by itself.

“This is another leap in technology. I mean, next level,” an animated Newsom tells Chinese reporters afterward, gesturing with both hands.

“I want two of them,” he joked.

A news article released by media run by the local Communist Party branch in Shenzhen wrote that Newsom “kept shouting ‘amazing’” during his visit.

Newsom has struck a cooperative tone during the trip, which has taken him to Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing and a surprise meeting there with China’s top leader Xi Jinping. According to Newsom’s office, the priorities of his trip include working with Beijing on climate issues, developing economic relationships and tourism as well as strengthening the cultural ties between China and California.

But through the lens of China’s state media, the 2028 Democratic presidential hopeful is a rare American politician who admires China’s success, endorses Xi’s agenda and, even at times, rebukes the Biden Administrations’ China policies.

According to a clip released by China Global Television Network, Beijing’s main global media outlet, Newsom told a Chinese reporter that he doesn’t agree with President Biden’s “de-risking” nor former commander-in-chief Donald Trump’s “de-coupling” when it comes to how the US should approach China.

“For me, I’m a little more simple. It’s about diversification. And I think that’s a healthy thing for every country,” he said. “The more successful China is, the more successful we all will be.”

The highlight of Newsom’s trip came on Wednesday, when he held a surprise meeting with Xi Jinping, who, according to China’s media release, “recalled with joy” his previous visit to California to the visiting governor.

Xi “expressed the hope that Newsom's visit will enhance mutual understanding and play a positive role in expanding cooperation between China and California and promoting the sound and steady development of China-U.S. relations.”

Newsom, in response, said “China has made remarkable achievements in development, especially in the field of new energy in recent years”, according to Xinhua news agency, China’s official wire service.

In a clip of the meeting released by China’s CCTV later that day, Newsom listened attentively to Xi, smiling, with eyes locked on his interlocutor’s face, nodding slowly but nonstop.

Other than Xi, Newsom also met with China’s foreign minister Wang Yi, who later traveled to Washington, and Vice President Han Zheng.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Chinese officials physically blocked American reporters from going into the Great Hall of the People, where Xi held the meeting with Newsom, and only allowed in Chinese reporters.

During meetings with Chinese officials, Newsom brough up issues of human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, according to Newsom’s office, although he reportedly did not raise these concerns with Xi. He also urged China to take the responsibility in stopping fentanyl from being shipped to the US.

Chinese state media did not mention these talking points of Newsom’s at all. Instead, commentators talked positively of Newsom’s visit.

In a video posted by People’s Daily, a commentator holds Newsom’s visit as an example of how US politicians should approach China.

“Newsom’s visit to China can be a reminder for those politicians who are ostensibly tough on China, that frequent visits and traveling is better than tough talks and attitudes,” she said.

“纽森这次访华之旅，其实也能提醒美国那些所谓强硬的政客，与其对中国不停说狠话、摆脸色，不如常来往、多走动。”

Global Times commentator Hu Xijin, who used to run the outlet as editor-in-chief, wrote on Weibo, China’s popular microblogging platform, that Newsom’s visit and meeting with Xi shows that neither the US nor China has given up on rebuilding their relations that has been going downhill in recent years.

In my story published on Voice of America’s Chinese website, Nathaniel Sher, senior researcher at Carnegie China, said that Newsom’s visit has been taken by Xi and Beijing as an opportunity to demonstrate how China wants to be treated by the west.

“Rather than focus on Newsom's state-level leadership, Xi Jinping spoke to the Governor about US-China relations more broadly, as if to suggest that he is a veritable representative of the US government,” Sher wrote in an email. “The pomp and circumstance with which Newsom was greeted sends a signal to other foreign leaders, including President Biden, that engagement on China's terms will elicit more favorable treatment.”

Domestically, Sher added, amplifying compliments from the likes of Newsom help Beijing reinforce to its people the narrative on China’s economic success and importance on world stage.

Experts believe that Newsom’s visit to China and Wang Yi’s trip to the US could set the stage for a Biden-Xi meeting in San Francisco next month at the APEC summit.

Newsom’s trip had drawn concerns from human rights groups even before it started. In a joint statement released last week, over 60 advocacy groups said the visit is to “explicitly turn away from engaging on critical human rights issues”.

In an interview with Politico, US Senator Jeff Merkley, co-chair of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, said Newsom should “speak very clearly against the repression of the Hong Kong people…Otherwise it does great damage because it looks like the Chinese repression is accepted and we cannot allow that to be the case.”

Defending his decision to travel to China and hold talks with Chinese officials that prioritize cooperation, Newsom said that working together with China to solve climate issues is one of the most important tasks for not only him but the entire planet.

“Divorce is not an option,” he said in a statement released after his meeting with Xi. “Despite major differences, we share our humanity – our desire to feel protected, connected and respected is universal – and that humanity is what should drive us to work together to stop the greatest existential threat our planet has ever known.”

Newsom is expected to continue his China trip in the Southern province of Jiangsu and end it in Shanghai later this week.