Schwarzenegger urges world to depend less on oil / Governor suggests China invest in California's clean technology

Schwarzenegger urges world to

depend less on oil / Governor suggests China invest in California's clean technology

 

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

 

 

2005-11-15 04:00:00 PDT Beijing -- Gov.Arnold Schwarzenegger urged diplomats and business leaders at a joint U.S.-China energy conference today to forge ties that will reduce the world's dependence on oil and increase energy efficiency.

The governor said the two nations are at a critical moment in history and must find new ways to produce and consume energy "to sustain our economies and our environment."

Schwarzenegger, on the second day of his trade mission to China, praised the Chinese for their progress toward greater energy efficiency and suggested they increase their trade relationships with California businesses that specialize in clean technologies.

The governor pulled a tiny silicon chip from his pocket, saying it was developed in Silicon Valley and manufactured in China.

"It has got a huge potential here, and huge growth here," she said of the Special Olympics movement, which she noted has grown tenfold in China in the last five years. With 500,000 participants today, she said, it has become "aneducation movement ... that is truly remarkable."

The frenzied scene outside the reception highlighted how Schwarzenegger, despite a waning political star at home and the trouncing last week of his agenda at the polls, still commands a celebrity spotlight far exceeding other political figures abroad.

"Regardless of political issues at home, he's a captivating presence with name ID," saidMark Mosher, who heads the California Commission for Jobs and Economic Growth, which helped plan and finance Schwarzenegger's trip. "That helps us with products we want to promote and sell."

At the Special Olympics event, it was clear that many in the crowd were drawn because of Schwarzenegger's role as a movie idol rather than as a political figure. Posters at Beijing subway stations to advertise the event depicted the governor -- albeit a much younger and more muscled likeness. Some in the crowd waved "Terminator" and "True Lies" posters, yelling "Arnold!" as he appeared, and about three dozen members of the Chinese press covered his arrival despite the bone-chilling November weather.

Celia Hatton, a CBS News reporter who has worked in Beijing for four years, said that while crowds of international officials and U.S. politicians traipse through China these days, Schwarzenegger holds a unique position among the Chinese people by virtue of his previous careers as movie actor and bodybuilder.

Many average Chinese are well-versed in his doings, she said. "They know his wife is famous, and a lot of them know he just had an election defeat," Hatton said.

Schwarzenegger's aides hope the weeklong trade mission to China of 75 California officials and business representatives will help the governor rebound from the voters' rejection last week of his special election measures on education, campaign finance and the budget.

Today's appearance at the energy conference also highlighted an area in which the Republican governor is much more in tune with California voters -- protecting the environment.

A U.S. Department of Energy report said that China as of 2001 accounted for almost 10 percent of the world's energy consumption, and those numbers were projected to increase to 14.2 percent by 2025. Almost 90 percent of China's energy comes from coal and oil -- a major reason it has seven of the world's 10 most polluted cities.

China has spent $85 billion the past five years on its environmental problems and plans to spend $300 billion in the next decade.

Schwarzenegger, in addition to waving the solar chip as a prop during his speech, repeated an assessment he has made often during his two years as governor that California and nations such as China must look toward hydrogen technology as a way to clean their air.

The governor said California is expected to have 40 million cars on its roads by 2020, and China will have 110 million.

"How will we power all of these cars? The answer will no longer be with oil. The solution is, and the future is, hydrogen fuel cars."