A delegation of U.S. House lawmakers visited China for the first time since 2019 this week, in what members described as an effort to push for more communication between the American and Chinese militaries to avert potential conflict.
The bipartisan group, composed mostly of members of the House Armed Services Committee, and led by Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington, met with China’s No. 2 official, Premier Li Qiang. They also met with China’s defense minister, its vice premier for economic policy, its foreign minister and the head of its rubber-stamp legislature.
The visit came just days after President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, spoke on the phone and discussed issues including trade and a possible deal on TikTok. Washington and Beijing have been working to steady ties after tensions over tariffs earlier this year brought relations to one of their lowest points in recent years. Mr. Trump has said on social media that he would likely visit China early next year.
Still, many areas of disagreement remain — including over China’s military presence in the Pacific, which has grown more assertive. Chinese ships have increasingly ventured into waters historically dominated by the United States. The U.S. military has accused Chinese planes of flying dangerously close to American planes, nearly causing collisions. China has countered that American aggression is fueling the risks.
“China is the most rapidly growing military, and the most rapidly growing nuclear power, in the world. The U.S. has the biggest military in the world and the biggest nuclear arsenal,” Mr. Smith, who is the Armed Services Committee’s ranking Democratic member, said at a news conference in between meetings on Tuesday. “It is dangerous for us not to be having regular communications about our capabilities and intentions.”
“We’ve seen this with our ships, our planes, their ships, their planes, coming entirely too close to one another,” he added. He had raised the issue with the premier, and Dong Jun, the defense minister.
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