By John Lindstrom
Publisher
Posted: September 4, 2013 2:40 PM

Today with China threatening to one day become the world’s largest economy, with travel to the once sleeping giant common, and with Governor Rick Snyder making his third trade trip to China it is relatively astonishing to think of how ordinary the idea of Chinese trade and visits have become.

The times when Chinese travel was nothing short of extraordinary are not that far gone. Mr. Snyder was a school boy and college student, after all, when Michigan governors did their part in opening relations with China.

It is just a little more than 40 years after then-President Richard Nixon astonished the nation and the world by announcing he would travel to China, beginning the voyage for China to move towards a more modern identity. Then-Governor William Milliken welcomed the move both to help break down tensions that had existed for two decades, but also to give the Republican Party and nation a different political focus from the still ongoing Vietnam War.

Once Mr. Nixon had traveled to China, America’s governors were anxious to follow, seeing a potential market of 1 billion people. Some of the governors seemed to attract more attention to themselves than to their states. Former Ohio Governor James Rhodes, for example, wanted to release balloons touting Ohio off the Great Wall of China, and so annoyed Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping talking about all the things in which Ohio ranked number one that Mr. Deng said dryly that China was number one in population.

Mr. Milliken and his wife, Helen, traveled several times to China. Ms. Milliken went first in 1975 as part of a group of American Women for International Understanding, and reported how impressed she was in how Chinese women had gone from roles of near slavery to leadership in the economy and government.

Mr. Milliken seemed to have an easy relationship with Mr. Deng and Chinese officials. At a press corps dinner marking the end of his administration, he jokingly asked how it would look if he and Mr. Deng went on a promotional tour as some other politicians did when leaving office.

“Oh, that would be deadly,” said one person at the table.

But the story Mr. Milliken liked most to tell of his trips was the dinner where a large spittoon was put between Mr. Deng and himself.

“Every few minutes he’d muster all his strength, and all the noises that come with it, and spit into the bucket. And every time he did, I moved out of the way!" Mr. Milliken said.