Manchin Goes To China

Gov. Joe Manchin plans to bring a West Virginia trade delegation to China in October, his office tells the Charleston Daily Mail today.

The 7-day trade trip will hit three cities, including Beijing, and Manchin hopes both to visit a "major coal-to-liquids plant" and help open the China Coal & Mining Exhibition in that nation's capital, the newspaper reports.

Other fun facts from the article:

* Manchin has led foreign travel missions each year since taking office in 2005, visiting Japan that year and then Germany and Italy last year.

* West Virginia exported $187 million worth of goods to China last year. Chemicals accounted for $111 million of the total, followed by wood products ($26m), transportation equipment ($11m), metal manufacturing ($8m) and mineral manufacturing ($5m).

* West Virginia exported $3.1 billion in products to more than 70 countries in 2005, providing 12,000 jobs.