The Washington state Senate on Tuesday, April 1, adopted a resolution that honors China for its contributions to the state of Washington.
Senate Resolution 8628, which is sponsored by Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, recognizes the impact people of Chinese descent have had on the state of Washington as the state’s largest Asian-American ethnic group as well as the role China itself plays as one of the state's largest trading partners.
“Be it resolved, that the Senate of the state of Washington recognize the significant contributions of China to the economic growth and cultural diversity of the state of Washington, with the Senate of the state of Washington honoring this relationship,” the resolution states.
The language focuses heavily on China’s role as a consistent trade partner since the U.S. opened diplomatic relations with the country in 1979. In the same year, China and the state of Washington created the Washington State China Relations Council, which is a nongovernmental organization dedicated to fostering trade, cultural and educational exchanges between the two governments.
According to the resolution, China was Washington's largest export market in 2024 with goods exported to the country being valued at $12 billion. Washington’s agricultural exports to the country in 2023 — including beef, fish, other seafood and wheat — were valued at $857 million.
Just days after the resolution was adopted, China enacted a 34% tariff on imported American goods in response to an equivalent tariff imposed on imported Chinese products by the Trump administration earlier this week.
Wilson, who sponsored the bill, has his own history with China or, at the very least, with the city of Hong Kong — a special administrative region within the People's Republic of China. The senator made headlines in 2023 for accidentally boarding a plane with an unloaded firearm and being arrested upon landing in Hong Kong.
Wilson said he reached for some gum while on the flight when he realized the gun was in his carryon. Wilson reported the firearm to the authorities upon landing in Hong Kong and spent multiple days in jail due to the incident. The case was eventually dismissed. Wilson was fined for bringing an unloaded firearm through a security checkpoint.
