BEIJING — Washington and Beijing should talk higher if they’re to resolve their numerous disagreements — and in the event that they don’t speak, it could possibly be “harmful,” a U.S. lawmaker mentioned Tuesday throughout a uncommon congressional go to to China.
That is the primary delegation of Home lawmakers to go to China since 2019; a bunch of U.S. senators visited Beijing in 2023. Their journey comes amid tensions between america and China over commerce, expertise and wars within the Center East and Ukraine.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., the chief of the bipartisan delegation, mentioned that they held “strong and really useful” conferences with Chinese language officers and that the target of the journey was to reopen strains of communication between “the 2 strongest nations on the earth.”
“Our relationship goes to be probably the most consequential relationship when it comes to what the world goes to be like for many years to come back,” Smith advised reporters on the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. “It’s actually essential that we work to strengthen that relationship and higher perceive one another.”
The army relationship between america and China is of specific concern, he mentioned.
The congressional delegation arrived weeks after Beijing confirmed off its army would possibly and superior weaponry in a extremely choreographed parade.
“China is probably the most quickly rising army and probably the most quickly rising nuclear energy on the earth. The U.S. has the most important army on the earth and the most important nuclear arsenal,” Smith mentioned. “It’s harmful for us to not be having common communications about our capabilities and intentions.”
President Donald Trump and Chinese language chief Xi Jinping spoke Friday of their first cellphone name since June. Trump mentioned that they agreed in the course of the name to satisfy on the sidelines of the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 APEC Summit in South Korea and that he would go to China early subsequent yr.
David Perdue, the brand new U.S. ambassador to China, mentioned the 2 leaders had a “nice name” and have been “trying ahead to getting collectively.”
“I might say that the connection between President Xi and President Trump is definitely excellent and really encouraging proper now,” he mentioned.
The opposite members of the delegation are Reps. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash.; Ro Khanna, D-Calif.; and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa. They’re in China till Thursday.
After they arrived Sunday, the lawmakers met with Premier Li Qiang, China’s No. 2 official. On Monday, they met with Vice Premier He Lifeng, who has been main the Chinese language facet in commerce negotiations with america, and Protection Minister Dong Jun.
Of their assembly with He, the delegation mentioned the talks with China, which accounts for the most important U.S. commerce deficit, and urged Beijing “to assist stem the circulation of fentanyl to the U.S. and cut back non-tariff obstacles to U.S. corporations looking for to do enterprise in China,” in accordance with a congressional readout.
The delegation additionally mentioned the way forward for the video app TikTok, which faces a ban in america until its Chinese language father or mother firm sells its U.S. belongings to U.S. homeowners, in addition to the problem of essential minerals and the export controls Beijing has sought to impose on them because it leverages its near-monopoly within the business.
Of their assembly with Dong, the lawmakers careworn the significance of larger communication between the U.S. and Chinese language militaries to keep away from miscalculation and battle.
Communications between the militaries have been suspended beginning in August 2022 after Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the Home speaker on the time, angered Beijing by visiting Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that China claims as its territory. They have been restored in November 2023 after a gathering in america between Xi and President Joe Biden.
The lawmakers visiting China mentioned that the U.S. army presence within the Asia-Pacific “shouldn’t be construed as a menace to China,” that they sought a peaceable decision to the problem of Taiwan and that battle between america and China “shouldn’t be inevitable.”
Talking earlier than their assembly, Dong mentioned the go to “reveals a great section in strengthening China-U.S. communications, and I consider it’s the proper factor to do.”
Janis Mackey Frayer reported from Beijing and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.
