WASHINGTON (AP) – The new leader of the House panel overseeing U.S. policy on Asia and the Pacific is a rarity in Congress: a deeply conservative Republican who shuns isolationism, favors closer ties with Asia and stands poised to praise as well as criticize China – and even do it in Mandarin.
Rep. Matt Salmon of Arizona is part of the tea party movement that advocates small government, a tough line on immigration and opposes President Barack Obama at every turn.
But Salmon also brings a unique perspective on Asia. He spent two years as a Mormon missionary in Taiwan, where he learned to speak Chinese. He says he has visited mainland China more than 40 times, and during an earlier three-term stint in Congress that ended in 2000, met China’s then-leader to help secure the release of a U.S. college researcher accused of stealing state secrets.
While many tea party members are wary of international engagement, Salmon embraces an active U.S. role in Asia, including a regional free-trade agreement. And in a Congress where China typically faces stiff criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike, Salmon has a more balanced view.
“I want to be seen as someone who wants to work with China, but I’m certainly not going to be an appeaser,” Salmon told The Associated Press about his chairmanship of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. The loquacious 56-year-old said he’d be upbeat where appropriate, but “I’m going to be blunt sometimes.”