WASHINGTON – Gary Locke told a Senate committee Thursday that he will try to increase exports and expand human rights if he becomes the first Chinese-American to fill the position of U.S. ambassador to China.

Locke, the secretary of commerce for the past two years and a former two-term Democratic governor of Washington, appears well on his way after making it through an easy confirmation hearing.

Appearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Locke said his career as a public servant already had taken him “from one Washington to the other” and now would land him in Beijing.

“If my father, Jimmy, were still alive, he would have been proud, if I am confirmed, to see his son become the first Chinese-American U.S. ambassador to the country of his and my mother’s birth,” Locke told the committee.

Although the panel didn’t vote, Locke encountered no opposition and nothing but good wishes from Democrats and Republicans alike.

Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the committee’s chairman, told Locke he’ll be responsible for advancing “one of the most important relationships for our country today.”

Locke, accompanied by his wife, Mona, and their three children, Emily, Dylan and Madeline, vowed to tackle “areas of vigorous disagreement” between the U.S. and China.

“That includes human rights, where we have significant concerns about China’s actions in recent months, especially the crackdown on journalists, lawyers, bloggers, artists and religious groups,” Locke said.

“The protection and the promotion of liberty and freedom are fundamental tenets of American foreign policy.”