BEIJING: Beijing stated on Wednesday that it welcomed US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other senior lawmakers’ impending visit to China, expressing the hope that the trip will deepen their “understanding” of the nation.
China welcomes US congressional: The delegation’s trip to China next week will be the most recent in a series of trips by US officials as both countries work to ease tensions over a number of security and economic problems, which are at their highest levels in years.
Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “welcomes” the visit and expressed the hope that it would improve the US Congress’s objective understanding of China.
The trip is intended to “promote dialogue and exchanges between the legislative bodies of the two countries and inject positive elements into the development of China-US relations,” according to the ministry.
Republican colleague Senator Mike Crapo will travel with Schumer, according to Bloomberg.
According to US media, the six-person team hopes to meet with President Xi Jinping and would discuss problems like the business environment for US companies in China and human rights.
The delegation will also make stops in South Korea and Japan, according to the New York Times, which cited the senators’ offices.
It comes after recent trips to China by John Kerry, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
In May, Schumer and his congressional colleagues announced a significant, bipartisan initiative to counter China’s expanding global influence by curbing the flow of capital and cutting-edge technology to the Asian behemoth.
Schumer described the campaign to restrain President Xi’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as an epochal conflict when it first began in the Senate.
However, “If we in America were to rest on our laurels, if we let the CCP beat us, it would have serious consequences for the world’s democratic nations,” he added. Further, “The Chinese government is not constraining itself in its pursuit to dominate the 21st century.”