New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer is leading a delegation of American elected officials to China starting Monday.
The two week trip will take Meyer to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
He and the delegation will meet with Chinese business leaders, elected officials and academics.
He hopes to learn from his Chinese counterparts about how they’ve governed in the face of rapid change.
“It’s hard to find any society that has changed and grown as much as China has in the last two decades. So trying to understand some of their challenges of growth—” he said. “Everything from land use policy to public safety to schools.”
He also expects to share some of New Castle County’s successful policies involving public safety, land use planning and public services.
He says he’s been asked to speak about his administration’s use of community policing and school safety technology, their investment in libraries and parks and their efforts to improve low-quality housing stock.
Meyer hopes the trip will be a chance to build connections and collaborate.
“We’re in an environment now where most of the messaging we’re hearing about US-Chinese relations is pretty negative,” he said. “And I don’t think that represents who we are, and I don’t think it really represents who the Chinese people are.”
Meyer calls it an honor to represent the country—and New Castle County—on his first trip to China.
The trip is organized and funded by Hong Kong-based non-profit China-US Exchange Foundation.
