Chicago and China

New Chicago gov't eyes more cooperation with China - Former White House Chief of Staff and Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel waves to the audience as he prepares for a televised debate against Democratic rivals Gery Chico, Carol Moseley Braun and Miguel del Valle in Chicago, Illinois February 17, 2011. Following the steps of his predecessor, newly elected Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said he plans to strengthen the third-largest U.S. city's long-standing cooperation with China. "I am committed to nurturing and expanding the relationships between Chicago and China and fostering new opportunities to collaborate on educational programs, business initiatives and tourism," he told Xinhua in an interview on Friday. Emanuel, the former chief of staff to U.S. President Barack Obama, succeeded Richard M. Daley earlier this month, who has been forging strong ties with China during his 22-year tenure in a bid to make Chicago "the most China-friendly" city in the nation. "We applaud the effort that Mayor Daley made to establish Chicago as the most 'China-friendly city in the U.S.,'" Deputy Mayor Mark Angelson, also chairman of the city's economic, budgetary and business development council, told Xinhua. "You have a mayor who has the unique ability to have our city of Chicago be a leader in the overall United States effort to build bridges between the U.S. and China. That is, in part, because of his service as White House chief of staff," he said, referring to the new mayor. According to Angelson, Emanuel plans to welcome more Chinese technology and manufacturing companies to set up operation in Chicago. Such an infusion into the U.S. economy would be crucial as the city government faces a budget shortfall of more than one billion U.S. dollars, a foundering school system where only half the students graduate from high school, and an economy rocked by unemployment.