What's Meant By A "China Hub"

This afternoon, I met privately with members of a delegation from China, here to inspect St. Louis as the site of a cargo hub between markets in the Midwest and in China. The final goal, which will not happen quickly, isn't so much to add flights between two points as it is to build the infrastructure around the region to receive, handle, store, manufacture, assemble, transport, sell, document, package, un-package, and buy things that have to travel on airplanes between the two countries.

We have two airports, a river, several interstate highways, a workforce, good universities, major construction firms, companies that want to sell things in China, and plenty of space. China has money to build the infrastructure and airplanes.

I think we made progress.