China to Open L.A. Consulate as Sign of Growing Southland Ties

In a move that reflects the growing importance of ties between Southern California and China, the Chinese government announced Friday that it will soon open a consulate in Los Angeles.

The announcement made no mention of a location or an opening date, but a Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Ma Yuzhen, 53, director of the ministry’s information department, has been named consul general for Los Angeles. The consulate will open “in the near future,” the spokesman said.

(In Los Angeles, city Chief of Protocol Bee Canterbury Lavery, said Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Xueqian will appear at a reception March 2 at the Biltmore to celebrate establishment of the consulate, which will be located in the Mid-Wilshire District.)

China’s Fifth in U.S.

It will be China’s fifth in the United States, the last one it can open under an agreement with the U.S. government.

China, which has a consulate in San Francisco, had planned to open its fifth consulate in Honolulu. But in 1985 it asked the State Department for permission to have the office in Los Angeles instead.

A Chinese official explained then that the decision was made because “Los Angeles is becoming increasingly important to us, both because of its economic importance and because of its large Chinese community.”

The new consulate will issue visas for travel to China and play a role in promoting business and cultural ties between China and Southern California.

In another indication of the importance that China attaches to the new consulate, the Foreign Ministry announced that Ma, the designated consul general, will have the rank of ambassador.

Ma, an affable man with excellent English, served from 1979 to 1984 as a counselor in China’s embassy in Ghana before becoming director of the information department.

China has consulates in New York, Chicago and Houston, in addition to San Francisco and its embassy in Washington. The United States has consulates in Shanghai, Canton, Shenyang and Chengdu, in addition to its embassy in Beijing.

Under the agreement providing for the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles, the United States is authorized to open a consulate in the central China city of Wuhan.