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A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sept. 21, kicking off the first visit from House representatives to China in six years.
In his opening remarks, Li described the U.S. delegation’s visit as an “ice-breaking trip” that would further the ties between the two countries.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee who led the U.S. delegation, said that it’s crucial to resolve the disagreements between Washington and Beijing through dialogue.
“Certainly, trade and economics [are] at the top of the list,” Smith said, adding that military-to-military discussions are also a focus for the delegation.
“As a member of the Armed Services Committee, I’m deeply concerned that our two militaries don’t communicate more.”
U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue
welcomed the group of American lawmakers before they sat down with Chinese officials.
“This bipartisan group plays a vital role in managing the U.S.-China relationship,” Perdue
said on X on Sept. 21.
Smith was joined on the trip by two other Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee—Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.)—and Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.), who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The latest visit by U.S. lawmakers to Beijing came shortly after CCP leader Xi Jinping spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on the phone to ease tensions.
Trump said after the call that they made progress on issues including trade, fentanyl, and the Russia–Ukraine war.
“I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea, that I would go to China in the early part of next year, and that President Xi would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time,” he
said on Truth Social on Sept. 19.
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Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) (2nd R) speaks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (R) as he leads a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers, including (from L) Reps. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.) and U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sept. 21, 2025. Mahesh Kumar A./Pool/AFP via Getty Images
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The last time U.S. House representatives visited China was in mid-
2019, when a bipartisan delegation from the U.S.–China Working Group met with Chinese officials and American business representatives at two mainland Chinese cities and Hong Kong.
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Since then, the bilateral relationship has quietly deteriorated, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. Instead of alerting the world about the mysterious virus, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) responded by silencing
doctors,
journalists, and
citizens who relayed unfiltered information to the outside, allowing the domestic outbreak to develop into a global pandemic.
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The heavy-handed
censorship, coupled with the
obstruction of investigations into the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, has strained Beijing’s relations not only with
Washington but also with other Western countries.
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Tensions between the world’s two largest economies are also fueled by issues ranging from
trade imbalance to the flow of illicit fentanyl precursors out of China, which Trump has cited as a reason for his tariff hikes against Beijing.
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In 2023, then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) led a bipartisan group of senators visiting Shanghai and Beijing. During their meeting with CCP officials, the U.S. lawmakers urged Beijing to
level the playing field for American companies and
curb the ongoing flow of precursor chemicals used in fentanyl production.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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