Diplomatic challenges await Ambassador Branstad

DES MOINES — Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad was chosen to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to China in large part because of the long professional friendship he has developed with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

But once he assumes his post next year, Branstad will face significant challenges unlike any other he has had during a political career spanning over four decades.

Those who know him best say he is prepared.

'Gov. Branstad will be amazing because he understands constituent services, and nobody works harder than him,' Charles Larson, an Iowan and U.S. ambassador to Latvia in 2008 and 2009 under President George W. Bush, said during recording of this weekend's episode of 'Iowa Press' on Iowa Public Television.

President-elect Donald Trump announced last week his selection of Branstad to serve as the next ambassador to China, an invitation Branstad accepted.

To take the new job, Branstad first will have to resign as governor. He will do so after more than 22 years as governor, making him the longest-tenured governor in the nation's history.

Once he takes over as ambassador — after Trump is inaugurated and Branstad is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, which is expected — he will move to China and serve as the nation's top diplomat to China on the ground there.

Branstad has known Xi since 1985, when Xi, then a provincial official, visited Iowa and met Branstad at the Capitol. Two years prior, Branstad signed a sister-state agreement between Iowa and the Chinese province of Hebei.

Branstad hosted then-vice president Xi again in 2012 and met him in Seattle in 2015.

And Branstad has conducted six trade missions to China over his tenure as governor.

Given that experience with now-President Xi and China, and Branstad's staunch support for Trump throughout the 2016 general election campaign, he was a natural selection to serve as the China ambassador.

But Branstad's working relationship with Xi and China will change. No longer will he be advocating solely for a healthy trade relationship — Iowa sold $1.4 billion in agriculture products to China in 2015, according to the U.S.-China Business Council. As ambassador, Branstad will be involved with all U. S-China diplomatic issues.

'Any time the U.S. government wants to take a stand on something, wants to negotiate something, wants to develop a joint project with China, the ambassador is the lead representative of our country in China,' said Downing Thomas, the University of Iowa's associate provost for academic affairs and dean of International Programs who joined Branstad on a 2012 trade mission to China. 'There is quite a bit of hosting obligations as well. A lot of it is ensuring that good relations prevail.'

On those trade missions, Chinese officials would sometimes ask Branstad about issues of broader, national or international importance. Those who have joined him on those trips have said the governor usually deflected the questions and said he was there only to represent Iowa.

Starting next year, obviously, that will change.

'I think (Branstad) is looked at (by the Chinese) as a national leader, but he always did a great job of saying, 'I'm here to promote Iowa and those connections.' And that was his role then,' Bill Northey, Iowa's agriculture secretary who has accompanied Branstad on trade missions to China, said on 'Iowa Press.'

'He'll probably not pivot away from that international role when he's ambassador, and he'll have lots of support around him to be able to work through all the challenging issues that there are.'

Larson said one of his primary focuses as ambassador was to urge immediate communication with the United States in times of crisis.

'My philosophy, when I was ambassador to Latvia, was I wanted to ensure that regardless of what the problem was, the first phone call the Latvians made was to the United States — not to the Russians, not to the Germans, not to the French, but to the United States,' Larson said. 'And as a former elected official ... (Branstad) will understand that mission, and no one will be better.'

Branstad will assume the position of ambassador at a time when U.S.-China relations may be at a crossroads.

Trump has launched many criticisms at China. Even this past week, when Trump visited Iowa for a stop on his victory tour and introduced Branstad as the next ambassador to China, Trump accused China of intellectual property theft, unfair taxing of American companies and currency manipulation, among other things.

Trump's provocative statements could be seen as a challenge to a diplomatic position such as the one Branstad is about to assume.

But on 'Iowa Press,' Northey and Mary Kramer, another former U.S. ambassador from Iowa, said Trump's brash nature may in some ways help Branstad.

'I really do think the strong rhetoric actually creates opportunities for blunt conversation about some issues that have drug on a long time,' Northey said.

Said Kramer, who was U.S. ambassador to Barbados under Bush from 2004 to 2006, 'I find it really useful to have the hard stuff on the table. It isn't the 100-pound elephant with the rug over it anymore. It's right out there. So we both know that we're going to have to discuss it.'

Whatever diplomatic challenges will be presented to Branstad, political experts across Iowa have been nearly unanimous in their praise of his selection and his ability to perform the job.

And that praise has come from both sides of the political aisle.

Tom Vilsack, the outgoing U.S. agriculture secretary and two-term Democratic governor of Iowa, called the selection 'good news' and said Branstad has 'earned the opportunity.'

'He's tenacious and he's going to have to be. He's tireless. He's going to have to be. And he understands and appreciates the importance of trade. And he'll have to,' Vilsack said at a news conference during an Iowa Farm Bureau event in Des Moines.

'I think all of the qualities that make a good ambassador he has, especially as it relates to this particular country, as he has a personal relationship with the current president,' Vilsack said.

'Those relationships matter. I have a good relationship currently with the (Chinese) ag ministers. And it matters. You can have a candid conversation. You can work toward a common goal.'

Vanessa Miller of The Gazette contributed to this report.