What People Are Saying

As a way to encourage foreign investment and international operations, the Midwest-China Hub Commission wants to establish a center at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. To some, the proposed China Hub project could be St. Louis’s salvation, while others think it could be the road to financial ruin.

In www.stlbeacon.org, Saku Aura and Jeff Milyo, said, “Missouri is contemplating handing out as much as $360 million in subsidies to create a monument to graft in St Louis. The China Hub project or "Aerotropolis" is being sold as a slam-dunk profitable investment of public money; economic consultants claim the project will generate many more millions of dollars in benefits to Missouri than its cost to the state. But the theoretical models upon which such predictions are based are well known to wildly exaggerate the benefits of such projects.”

Christine Harbin and Audrey Spalding write in www.columbiamissourian.comthat “Although the state government is strapped for cash, Missouri’s General Assembly is about to place a huge and ill-advised bet on the so-called Midwest China Hub or “Aerotropolis.” At the 11th hour, legislators tacked on this misguided proposal to another bill that would limit tax credit expenditures. The end result is a 330-page bill that would accomplish little other than take benefits from some — in this case, the low-income elderly — and instead award benefits to private developers in St. Louis.”

According to www.Chinadaily.com.cn, that sources involved in the project recently told China Daily that “the first China-St. Louis cargo air route, poised to be a key trade hub in the US' Midwest, will take flight in September. The flights will bring agricultural goods and other products from the Midwest to China and create about 12,000 to 15,000 jobs in St. Louis, according to Midwest-China Hub Commission Chairman Mike Jones, who said ‘When people see that happening, they will understand that Missouri will be transformed into an international trade hub.’ Daniel Mehan, president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, said, ‘It will get a lot of attention not just in the state but in the world, Metaphorically, we want to reposition St. Louis as a 'Gateway to the East' in the 21st century.’"

www.kansascity.com says while St. Louis County RepublicanSenator Eric Schmitt, said expanding distribution networks around the airport and encouraging job creation is a major goal, a smaller part of the legislation would give tax credits for air cargo shipment, which will encourage freight forwarders — people who book cargo space on carriers — to work in the St. Louis area. But Tom McKenna, marketing director at Kansas City International Airport, says the plan is unworkable. “Not everybody can buy their way into being an air cargo hub or aerotropolis.’”

www.wcarn.com writes “The Midwest-China Hub will help strengthen the business relationship the U.S. has with China,” St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay told ChinaDaily. ‘We have an agreement to increase US exports to China. We are hoping to take advantage of that agreement,’ he said. “Having a trade hub in St. Louis will help enable the Chinese to buy products from different parts of the Midwest such as beef, pork and agricultural products. It is also a way to reduce the trade deficit we have with China,’ he added.”