Gary Locke (The More Things Changed)

Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician from Washington who is the 69th and current United States Secretary of State. Locke previously served as the United States ambassador to China, the 36th United States Secretary of Commerce and as the 21st Governor of Washington.

Locke was the first governor in the mainland United States of Asian descent; he remains the only Chinese American to ever serve as a United States Governor. He is also the first Chinese American to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China. As of 2017, Locke is the highest-ranking Asian-American public official in United States history.

Family Education, and Early Career
Gary Locke was born on January 21, 1950, in Seattle, Washington, and spent his early years living in the Yesler Terrace public housing project. Locke is third-generation Chinese American; his family on his father's side hails from Taishan, Guangdong. Until he was enrolled in kindergarten at age five, he had only spoken Mandarin at home.

Locke attended Yale University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1972. He received a law degree from Boston University in 1975; he thereafter worked for several years as a deputy prosecutor in King County.

Washington State
In 1982, Locke was elected to Washington state's South Seattle district in the Washington House of Representatives, where he served on the House Judiciary and Appropriations Committees, the latter of which he served as Chairman during his final five years in the legislature.

In 1993, Locke was elected as King County's executive.

Governor
In 1996, Locke became the first Chine-American governor of a U.S. state when he defeated Republican nominee Ellen Craswell, earning nearly 58% of the vote.

As Governor, Locke adopted a "no new taxes" approach to his states economic and budgetary policy, earning him criticism from the left flank of his own party. Washington weathered two economic downturns under his watch, adopting a freeze on state employee pay, and achieving bipartisan welfare reform. The state would go on to create over 280,000 private sector jobs.

Locke also led ten successful trade missions to China, opening his state up to businesses from Asia and increasing Washington's exports to China to over $5 billion per year.

Post-Governorship
After his second term expired, Locke decided against running for a third term. He later joined Davis Wright Tremaine LLP - an international law firm - lending his expertise on government relations, China, and trade. During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, Locke became a co-chairman of Virginia Senator Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and was floated as a potential Vice-Presidential pick for both her and then-Senator Obama.

Secretary of Commerce
On February 25, 2009, President Barack Obama announced Locke as his choice for Secretary of Commerce; he was confirmed by the Senate one month later in a unanimous vote. With his appointment, Locke became the first Chinese American appointed as Secretary of Commerce, and the highest-ranking Asian-American in United States history at that point. He served as one of three Asian Americans in Obama's first cabinet, alongside Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. His selection was met with wide approval among both business leaders and public sector officials.

Ambassador to China
On April 28, 2011, Ambassador to China and former Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman, Jr., resigned his post to mount his 2012 presidential bid for the Republican Party nomination; Locke was nominated by President Obama to serve as U.S. ambassador to China. He was confirmed by a unanimous vote Locke on July 27, 2011. He was succeeded as Secretary of Commerce by Penny Pritzker.



Shortly after his diplomatic credentials were accepted by the government of China, a photo of Locke - carrying his own backpack and ordering coffee at a Starbucks, with his then-6-year-old daughter in tow - went viral on Chinese social media. In stark contrast to the lavish public images of many Chinese officials, the humble image of Locke bewildered and charmed many Chinese commentators.

In May 2012, blind Chinese activist and dissident Chen Guangcheng escaped his guards and traveled several hundred miles to the U.S. Embassy compound in Beijing; on May 2nd, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanded an apology from the U.S. Locke initially helped negotiate a for Chen to stay in China with his family, which was criticized by Chen; he negotiated a second deal for Chen and his family to relocate to the United States.

In November 2013, Locke announced that he would step down as the United States Ambassador to China; he would later be replaced by Max Baucus, formerly a Senator from Montana. Sun Zhe, a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, stated "It is not an easy job to be the American ambassador to China. Gary Locke is not a shining star, but a simple and unadorned ambassador."

In his farewell address before a body of Chinese students, Locke stated:

"'China has a great future ahead of it. But reaching its full potential will depend on a neutral and respected judiciary, an active set of dedicated lawyers, wise leadership, but most of all, reverence toward the rule of law.'"

Nomination and Confirmation
On November 21, 2017, President-elect Hillary Clinton announced her selection of Gary Locke for Secretary of State. He was confirmed by the United States Senate in a 89-10 vote, and was sworn in on January 20th.

Tenure
As Secretary of State, Locke has continued his public image as an "economy-class" diplomat, preferring to carry his own belongings and interact directly with the foreign public.

On February 15, 2017, Locke embarked on his first overseas trip as Secretary of State to Bonn, Germany, meeting with foreign ministers from the G20. In Bonn, Locke had meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UK Foreign Secretary Michael Gove, as well as his counterparts from Italy, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

As Secretary of State, Locke has taken the lead in pursuing a diplomatic solution to the South China Sea dispute.

Stretch-Goal Diplomacy
In his inaugural address, Secretary Locke outlined his approach to foreign affairs as "benchmark diplomacy", citing his metric-based approaches in his

"'I believe that if you set super high strech-goals - oftentimes unattainable - it forces people to completely reinvent their design systems and previous goals. We can reach for the unattainable. We need to focus on those types of objectives.'"

North Korea
On March 15, Locke began a trip to east Asia, beginning with a visit to Beijing. He has taken the lead in the Clinton administration on finding diplomatic solutions in the South China Sea dispute and in reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. In Beijing, on the subject of North Korea, Locke stated:

"'Ultimately, I think a diplomatic solution will include a level of U.S. troops in South Korea and protection of North Korea by China. North Korea is going to want some assurances of its safety and of its viability from invasion or overthrow by the United States and South Korea. The future bodes well for a stronger U.S.-China relationship.'"

In response to the increase in North Korean missile tests in 2017, Locke undertook a second tour of East Asia, visiting in Japan, South Korea, and China.

He has strongly supported further sanctions by the United Nations against the Kim regime, pushed for by Ambassador Wendy Sherman.

THAAD
During an August summit in Seoul, after speaking with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts - Kang Kyung-wha and Fumio Kishida - President Moon Jae-in of South Korea reauthorized the THAAD missile system, which had previously been suspended pending governmental review. However, part of the defense system would be reduced and transferred to Japanese soil.

Freeze for Freeze Effort
In September 2017, Locke confirmed that the State Department was pursuing a "freeze-for-freeze" option, and said he hoped for "an amicable solution." News outlets such as Foreign Policy and the Washington Post have reported that Locke has drawn a red line against permitting an expansion of Chinese military presence as part of regional Six-Party negotiations.

Turkey and Syria
On March 30th, 2017, Locke met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. Locke and Çavuşoğlu issued a joint statement supporting a no-fly zone in Northern Syria. Discussion of U.S. support of Syrian Democratic Forces - a point of contention - was agreed to be left to a later time.

Turkey has criticized the United States over its support for Syria’s Kurds. In May, non-violent protestors and Erdoğan's bodyguards clashed outside of the Turkish Ambassador's Residence in Washington, D.C. Locke condemned the incident, which led to the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Serdar Kılıç, being declared a persona non grata and recalled back to Turkey.

On June 30th, 2017, Locke swore in Ellen Tauscher as the United States Ambassador to Turkey.

Iraq and Kurdistan
Following the results of the Iraqi Kurdistan independence referendum, Secretary Locke stated that while the Clinton administration recognizes the vote itself as free and fair, "the United States does not recognize and independent Kurdistan at this time, but will strive for solution through peaceful diplomacy."

Venezuela
Main Article: 2017 Venezuelan Crises (The More Things Changed) Locke and the Clinton administration has expressed their desire to see "free and fair elections in Venezuela."

Along with Cuba, the administration is pushing for Venezuela to rejoin the Organization of American States. Along with Locke, the diplomatic effort is being spearheaded by: Mari Aponte, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; Craig Cohen, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs; and Lincoln Chafee, United States Ambassador to the OAS. In this initiative, the United States has initiated talks with the ALBA allies of the Maduro government - such as Ecuador and Cuba - as well as American allies such as Canada, Mexico, and France. The talks have informally been called the "Continuar Caucus."

On October 30th, 2017, multilateral talks in Ottawa resulted in the first agreement towards a resolution of the Venezuelan crises - the Parameters for a Plan for Lasting Peace in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Clinton has stated her "support and optimism" for the agreement.