Beijing (Reuters) – A group of U.S. lawmakers told China’s second-largest leader Li Qiang during a rare visit that the world’s two largest economies need to strengthen interaction and “break the ice” as both superpowers further integrate into stable relations.
Sunday’s visit was the first delegation to China since 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic ended its official visit in 2020 and relations have deteriorated rapidly due to differences on the origins of the coronavirus.
The trip by the bipartisan delegation, announced this month, follows a call on Friday between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping as both countries seek a course out of a period of strained ties exacerbated by trade tensions, US restrictions over semiconductor chips, the ownership of TikTok, Chinese activities in the South China Sea, and matters related to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.
Prime Minister Lee told lawmakers that the “ice-breaking” trip will further bilateral ties.
The delegation was led by Adam Smith, Democratic Representative for the United States. He is the former chairman and current Democratic chairman of the House Armed Forces Committee, which oversees the U.S. Department of Defense and the Armed Forces.
“We can all admit that China and the United States have a job to strengthen this relationship, and that shouldn’t be, what’s seven years, six years between visits to the U.S. House of Representatives,” Smith told Seme.
“We need more of these types of communication, and we hope your words can break the ice and we will start having more of these communications.”
During the interim years between the meetings, when China, which hit each other, largely closed the outside borders, U.S. lawmakers focused their visits elsewhere.
Travel by U.S. lawmakers include visits to Taiwan, a democratic government, which Beijing claims is part of its territory and regards it as the most important and sensitive issue in relations with the United States.
In 2022, then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Democratic members to Taiwan, a wider Asian tour. The trip angered China, which told other countries to avoid formal engagement with Taiwan and triggered Chinese military exercises in the island’s waters and airspace.
A year later, when Michael McCaul, then chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, visited Taiwan, U.S. lawmakers once again irritated Beijing. McCaul, who was later approved by China, promised to provide training for the Taiwan armed forces and speed up the delivery of weapons.
(Reported by Ryan Woo; Edited by William Mallard and Tom Hogue)
