Making hay with China while sun shines

Nevada should take every opportunity to tap the biggest market opportunity in the world - China.

That's why even an odd-sounding plan like the one announced this week to export alfalfa-growing knowledge from Nevada farmers to Asia is not as far-fetched as it seems.

Some critics, as we have heard, are staunchly against doing business with the Red Menace. Yes, it is a Communist country, has done unspeakable deeds in the past to its own people and Americans, and it remains a threat on a global scale.

But there are two intertwined objectives at work here:

- The economic opportunity for business in China is practically unlimited. Few companies in the world aren't trying to figure out a way to crack an increasingly Westernized market.

When even the Super Bowl is being exported to China (as it was last year for the first time and will be again on Sunday, with live broadcasts in Mandarin), there's no compelling reason for Nevada to avoid doing business there.

In fact, Nevada was the first to open a tourism office there, and Las Vegas gets big-time money from Chinese gamblers.

On the other end, U.S. consumers likely have more than a few "made in China" products in their homes. Ignoring the burgeoning Chinese economy won't make it go away.

- The second objective, on a political and social level, must be rooted in confidence in the American ideal.

Free enterprise, we have to believe, did as much to overthrow Russia as any other factor in the Cold War. As the Chinese forge bonds, trade goods and get a taste for Western-style prosperity, their hearts and minds will follow.

In other words, make hay while the sun shines.