HUNTSMAN'S CHINA TRADE MISSION: UVSC's Val Hale is in China this week as part of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s trade mission to bring together the businesses of the world's most populous country and the Beehive State. His dispatches will run daily.

BEIJING -- The most-talked-about event so far of the Utah Trade Mission to China has nothing to do with trade and everything to do with international bureaucracy.

Utah's Speaker of the House, Greg Curtis, and his wife, Teresa, found out Tuesday morning what happens when you show up in a foreign country without a proper visa. The couple had been visiting Greg's parents, who are serving an LDS mission in Jakarta, Indonesia. They flew to Beijing on a China Air flight and, when they arrived, discovered that they did not have Chinese visas.

Curtis had supposed the Governor's Office was going to order the visa. When Chinese officials discovered the mistake, they ordered the Curtises immediately put on a plane back to the United States. It turns out being Utah's Speaker of the House carries little weight in Beijing when you are visaless.

Fortunately, Curtis was able to get in touch with the governor's staff. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. was having breakfast with the U.S. Ambassador to China, Sandy Randt, so the ambassador's staff went to work trying to cut through yards of red tape to get a visa for the Curtises in a matter of hours. Huntsman instructed Greg to stall as best he could while the embassy staff tried to perform a miracle.

The visas arrived just as Chinese officials were placing the Curtises on a flight back to the United States. Once the little piece of paper was affixed to their passports, the Curtises immediately became VIPs again and were warmly welcomed to China.

The main thing the Curtises missed by being delayed was a superb performance by Huntsman as he interacted with several of China's top officials.

Huntsman was the U.S. Ambassador to Singapore during the Bush I administration. In his early 30s when given that assignment, he was the youngest U.S. ambassador in more than 100 years. Previous to his ambassadorial duties, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Asia. Later, under Bush II, he was Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, traveling the world as chief trade negotiator for the United States.

It came as no surprise then, to watch Huntsman tactfully and comfortably interact with some of the world's most influential people while introducing them to the trade delegation from his state. He obviously had personal relationships with many of the Chinese officials, and they greeted him warmly. Perhaps most impressive to the Chinese officials was Huntsman's fluent use of the Mandarin language, which he learned as an LDS Church missionary in Taiwan. Chinese-speaking governors are a rarity in the United States these days, and the fact that Utah has the only one is a big deal to the Chinese.

The first stop on the delegation's docket was a visit to the Ministry of Commerce to meet with Madame Ma Xiuhong, China's vice-minister of commerce. Huntsman described her as the senior-most trade officer in the Chinese government and one of the top trade negotiators in the world. She has a reputation of being tough, but she appeared warm and at ease as she met with the delegation.

The group returned to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to have lunch with Randt. He spoke for a few minutes about life as an ambassador and how his agenda is shaped each day by what happens in the world. He used as an example how the crisis in North Korea had consumed his attention the last few days.

After lunch, the group again climbed aboard the bus to visit the spectacular People's Great Hall, home of the People's Congress. The massive building was built in 1959 and took only 10 months to construct. Few Americans are permitted inside the edifice. I could sense it was a place of history and that important, world-shaping events had taken place and would continue to take place within those walls.

We were ushered into the Tibetan Room, a large, beautiful room with murals of Tibet on the walls. Cheng Si-Wei, vice chairman of the National People's Congress, spoke to the group about the trade deficit between the United States and China. He was very articulate and spoke good English. He later revealed that he had received a degree at UCLA.

The day was capped off by a reception hosted by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Wan Jifei, chairman of the council, welcomed the group before a dinner of "real" Chinese food, which proved to be an adventure for some in the Utah group.

Here are some random observations about Wednesday's activities in China.

The governor's staff is to be commended for putting together such a high-powered group of Chinese officials to meet with the Utahns. These are men and women who have tremendous influence. They all appeared to be impressed by the Utah delegation and are anxious to do business with Utah. China is now the fifth-largest trading partner with Utah and will soon be No. 1.

Madame Ma was overheard saying, "Does everyone in your group speak Chinesefi" after a number of the delegation members greeted her in Mandarin, which they had learned on their missions.

Ambassador Randt referred to himself as a "part-time" resident of Utah. He owns property in the state.

As the only public institution of higher education represented in the delegation, UVSC is getting some good exposure. I will be meeting with the Minister of Education to talk about UVSC and how the school can partner with the Ministry to get more visas for Chinese students wanting to attend UVSC. Kayleen Curtis, president of Stevens Henager College in Salt Lake City, is also part of the delegation.

Val Hale is vice president for institutional advancement and marketing at UVSC. He is the former director of athletics at Brigham Young University. He has worked as a freelance writer and has published one book.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.