Schwarzenegger's China Trip: Pumping Up The Personal Profile

by Kathleen Sharp

(PNS) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's week-long, $1 million tour of Asia was billed as a trade mission for California. But it looks more like a buddy road trip than any serious effort to lift the state's economy or provide good-paying jobs.

Clearly there are legitimate reasons for the state's firms to seek trade with China. California already does a huge amount of business with eastern Asia -- $47 billion last year. And some of the trip's delegates, such as the mid-sized Umina of Los Angeles and Sunrider Corp. of Torrance, depend on that trade to keep Californians working.

One key test of a worthwhile trade mission is whether it concentrates on a few business sectors. By this measure, however, the governor's mission falls short. His troupe consisted of a grab bag of drug companies, oil conglomerates, beer makers, produce vendors, theme park owners, hospital associations, technology developers, and airliners, cruise liners and auto parts suppliers. It's hard to think of a business sector that was not represented.

Another test is whether members of the state trade delegation really are California employers. Here, too, the trip fell short, given the plethora of New York financiers flying under the state seal. New York money men are certainly grateful for the governor's ill-advized decision to underwrite the state's humongous debt two years ago. The expensive bonds showered Wall Street with tens of millions of dollars in fees and bonuses -- at the expense of generations of Californians.

Less clear, however, is why the New York-based commercial developer Julien J. Studley Inc. and the Rockefeller Group Development Corp. of New Jersey tagged along. How did they serve Golden State residents?

Yet, we're not likely to learn why so many out-of-state firms were part of the California junket, or much else for that matter. According to a 2002 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, the organizers of such trips rarely publicize their accomplishments -- because there usually aren't any.

According to that study, state-led trade missions generate more heat than light -- more photo ops and headlines than increases in exports or new jobs. It would have been wiser -- and less expensive -- for Schwarzenegger to have re-opened the state's trade offices in China, which closed two years ago.

It looks as though the trip was more about boosting the image of the unpopular governor and securing Schwarzenegger's next career move, based on the trip's details.

State-sponsored trade missions are supposed to expose small and inexperienced firms to the realities of foreign markets. But the Walt Disney Corp., which sent several executives, is anything but callow. In September, it opened a $6 billion theme park in Hong Kong -- its 11th park -- to serve China, home of the fastest growing middle class in the world. Disney's U.S.-based movie division may be floundering, but its revenues are growing by pushing its "brand" products to consumers overseas. And so they were happy to join Schwarzenegger's official retinue.

So too with Fox TV, a division of multinational News Corp. Its chief executive traveled alongside the governor, who several times closed his trade speeches by evoking his movie line, "I'll be back." That was like a free worldwide commercial for Fox, which is resurrecting the "Terminator" franchise for a new Fox TV series. According to Variety, another group of producers are developing the fourth "Terminator" film, based on the destructive cyber creature that made the governor famous. The producers won't say whether Schwarzenegger has been offered a role. But it would be obvious job for an out-of-work actor.

And Warner Brothers, the distributor of the last "Terminator" movie, also benefited very nicely from California's trade mission. Last week, Schwarzenegger appeared at the Shanghai premiere of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," giving the Warner film priceless free media attention. As a result, the studio, a division of New York-based Time-Warner, expects "Harry Potter" to exceed its global projections.

As for the governor, he was elected by only 35 percent of the voters. Given the ramshackle results of his political performance -- and its heavily scripted, hackneyed lines -- his chances of getting re-elected are bleak. But Schwarzenegger's "Road to China" production has opened up his career options.

Two days after California's special election, Warner gave the green light to a film that Schwarzenegger was attached to three years ago, before he was governor. His Hollywood representatives insist that he's not involved in that movie -- yet. But should the governor lose his seat he may land a starring role in that film. The plot sounds eerily familiar. It's a remake of "Westworld," about a theme park run amok by androids and cyber robots. Rather like real-life California.