jon huntsman jr. as next china ambassador?

so twitter-verse was abuzz this friday over news that current utah governor, jon huntsman jr., was likely to be making the move to beijing as the united states’ top diplomat.  while i haven’t really read that much into huntsman’s policies, he certainly seems well-qualified for this critical post. a fluent mandarin speaker, huntsman had spent time in taiwan as part of his missions trip with the church of latter day saints. with a background in business (his family runs the huntsman corporation, one of the world’s largest chemical distributors), philanthropy, and politics, huntsman may just be what the US needs to tread the waves that are the increasing importance of us-china relations.

furthermore, this gesture by the obama administration reflects the new president’s political savvy as well — upholding his promises of maintaining a bi-partisan state while making it difficult for a very strong potential republican 2012 presidential contender to make any concrete criticism of the obama administration over the next four years.

for the governor’s nine-year old daughter — grace mei huntsman — the appointment will also mean a move back home. grace was adopted by the huntsmans from china, who have also adopted another daughter from india.

of course, time will be the final decider of jon huntsman jr.’s story but for now, am looking forward to the developments this new appointment will bring.