The Washington State China Relations Council, the oldest state level organization devoted to improving ties with China, held its annual gala, virtually, on February 2nd. The highlight of the evening was a conversation between former Ambassador to China Gary Locke and the former Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd. These two experts expressed their ideas about how the U.S. and China can cooperate as well as compete in the future. The robust discussion was followed by an audience question and answer session.
The Council was pleased to welcome Congressman Rick Larsen, (D WA 02) who addressed the more than 200 people at the virtual event. Representative Larsen shared his ideas about steps the U.S. must take to what the United States must do to manage its increasingly fraught relationship with China.
After the Council’s Executive Director Nor Coquillard reviewed the organization’s 2020 activities and 2021 plans, the Director of the Council Man Wang introduced the audience to the Council’s sister, charitable organization the Washington State China Relations Fund. Keeping with a Gala tradition, the Council awarded its 2021 Sidney Rittenberg Award for leadership in the advancement of Washington-China relations to former Council and long-time board member Gregg Rodgers.
te, nonprofit marketing organization serving as Seattle and King County’s official destination marketing organization (DMO) for more than 50 years. Through their efforts, they work to enhance the employment opportunities and economic prosperity of the region.
Inspur is a leading data center and cloud computing solutions provider. Through engineering and innovation, Inspur aspires to deliver robust, performance-optimized, purpose-built solutions to address emerging technology arenas and challenges.
Himalaya Capital is an investment management company founded in 1997. The company embraces the value investment principles of Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and Charles Munger, and primarily focuses on investment opportunities in Asia and North America, both in publicly traded securities and privately held companies. They aim to achieve superior returns by investing in companies with substantial “economic moat” and great growth potential for the long term.
Banner Bank is a Washington-charted commercial bank headquartered in Walla Walla, Washington. For over 130 years, the bank has been proud to serve the West with comprehensive financial services with core values that never go out of style: listen, learn, and help people and businesses reach their goals. Today—at over 200 locations across Oregon, Washington, California, and Idaho—Banner Bank delivers a high level of individual service as a community bank, while also offering competitive products some might expect to find only at a nationwide financial institution. Banner Bank is a member of the FDIC.
Michele is a Global Real Estate Advisor of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty in Seattle. Michele represents clients with downtown luxury condos, East Side estates, valuable land investments and commercial properties. Trilingual in both Cantonese and Mandarin, utilizes her knowledge of the Seattle real estate market to get her clients the best deal while understanding the emotional and financial demands of any transaction, evidenced with multi-million dollars in closed sales. Michele enjoys traveling and cooking with her husband, Bryan Brzeg and long walks with their micro poodle, Truffle.
Daniel has worked as a tax advisor and accountant since 2011. He focuses on international tax and tax planning for cross-border activity. Daniel lives in the Seattle area, and in his spare time enjoys taking his two children on bike rides.
Ruidong is currently a product manager at the local tech startup Wyze Labs, working on a new home monitoring experience that leverages modern IoT and cloud capabilities. Before studying at the University of Washington, he served at design consultancies and a successful startup in China on various tech products, from music streaming service to car infotainment systems.
Jeanne first went to China in 1980, spending a year teaching English in Shenyang. Before founding an import distribution business which she ran for 20 years, she was China Trade Specialist and Trade Director with the State of Washington. Jeanne is currently a principal in Two Rivers Manufacturing, an importer and distributor of motorcycle accessories.