A delegation of four U.S. Congressmen arrived in Beijing, on Sept. 21, for a four-day visit to hold meetings with top Chinese officials to open up U.S.-China communications on defense relations, and to discuss the effects of tariffs.
The U.S. delegation was led by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), who is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA), on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. They were joined by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-CA), both of whom serve on the House Armed Services Committee.
On Sept. 21, the delegation met with Premier Li Qiang. The next day, they met separately with Vice Premier He Lifeng, and with Defense Minister Dong Jun. Xinhua, in a Sept. 22 article, “Chinese Defense Minister Meets with U.S. House of Representatives Delegation,” wrote: “Dong called on the visiting U.S. Congress members to remove disruptive and restrictive factors and take constructive and pragmatic steps to play an active role in improving relations between the Chinese and U.S. militaries.” Further, Xinhua stated that Dong called for the two sides to “take concrete measures to boost the stable, sound and sustainable development of relations between the two countries and their militaries.”
The American delegation responded in kind. Also on Sept. 22 Reuters reported that Smith had told Dong ahead of their meeting: “We want to open up better the lines of communication between our two countries in general, in particular between our defense [structures],” and “We have disagreements, without question, but I think it makes it all the more important that we have open discussions about how to resolve those differences.”
