Not too much good news has come out of China lately, with all the poison toys, pet foods and other scary things that probably have helped bury one of the best pieces of news to come out of China for Hawai'i in a long time: We have been bestowed "ADS status" by China.

ADS status means that China has just granted the United States "approved destination status" in an agreement signed Dec. 12 at the 18th U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade held in Beijing. The memorandum of understanding will permit group leisure travel visits from China to the U.S. and allow the U.S. tourist industry to market in China.

Before receiving ADS, the American tourist destinations could not be marketed in China and tour groups were not allowed to travel to the United States. It is expected that the MOU will be activated as soon as this spring, and by next summer we'll be hearing a lot more Mandarin spoken in Waikiki and on the Neighbor Islands.

Although China is still a communist nation, it holds a lot of economic power in our country and the free world by holding nearly $400 billion in U.S. Treasury securities. In short, China is a majority shareholder in investing in the U.S. government's deficit spending. The Chinese economy and military also are expected to grow to nearly eclipsing the U.S. in the not-too-distant future, although military technology may not be quite as advanced.

This is the same nation that has a list of alleged human-rights violations that include harvesting human organs, torturing religious leaders and operating a system of gulags. It is also the base for extensive cyber attacks against American businesses and the U.S. government, most recently at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

HAWAI'I A NATURAL STOP

Be that as it may, ADS status is really good news for the future of U.S.-China relations, Hawai'i and especially helpful to the balance of trade for the U.S.

Hawai'i, located exactly halfway between China and the U.S. Mainland, is a natural stop for these groups.

Our Hawai'i-Chinese population also will attract as well as be key to promoting Hawai'i as a destination to potential Chinese visitors.

But airline seats to Hawai'i will be critical and has always been a problem linking Hong Kong and Honolulu due to the "flyover" syndrome that has marked Pacific skies for more than a decade. Homeland Security regulations could also be a problem, and granting visas to our new Chinese visitors a bigger problem.

If ADS status is successful in Hawai'i, not only will we experience a surge in visitors, we also will have to be prepared to be "bought out." A surge in well-heeled tourists usually results in businesses and real estate being purchased by those same visitors.

I think there are parallels between the coming ADS boom of Chinese visitors and the surge of Japanese tourists and investment that took place in Hawai'i in the 1980s, when hotels, houses and businesses were bought up. Many properties to this day are still in the hands of those whose country has such a strong economy that investing in Hawai'i was a natural outcome.

With China's enormous and fast-growing economy, what we now call "Chinatown" in Downtown Honolulu, as well as the rest of the state's real estate, may never remain the same. This is speculative on my part (no pun intended) but very likely to occur.

Is Waikiki ready for the Chinese? We will need an increased use of the Chinese languages, whether written on signs and brochures, or spoken at hotels, retailers and restaurants. Our already-crowded attractions like Pearl Harbor will also need to prepare to cater to a substantial increase in Chinese tourists. Those of us who interact with tourists will need to become more aware and sensitive to Chinese traditions and customs, so that we can best accommodate our Chinese guests.

Finally, we in the government need to promote policies that encourage this process. I believe that in the same way Hawai'i influenced Sun Yat Sen when he studied in Hawai'i, we can introduce Chinese tourists to the freest society on Earth as well as attract their children to study here.

Democracy and education in the U.S. and Hawai'i is a growth industry, as we see in the increased growth of international students at Hawai'i Pacific University and the East-West Center's expansion of its overseas student programs.

Anyone who knows anything about China or Chinese culture would not doubt that only good can result from our newly granted ADS status. The question is: Are we prepared? Like Governor Lingle says about the coming wave of the global economy: Is it going to hit us, or are we going to ride it? Let's brush up on our Mandarin by next summer, Hawai'i.

Rep. Gene Ward, R-17th (Kalama Valley, Queen's Gate, Hawai'i Kai) is a member of the International Affairs Committee in Hawai'i's House of Representatives. He wrote this article for The Advertiser.

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