A bipartisan US Senate delegation will visit China, Japan, and South Korea in October, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said on Tuesday.
The six senators will be led by Republican Mike Crapo, whose office previously said that the trip is scheduled for the next week and that the senators intend to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Republicans Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, as well as Democrats Maggie Hassan and Jon Ossoff, are among the other senators traveling.
The mission will come after those of a number of Biden administration officials over the last four months, including State Secretary Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Climate Tsar John Kerry, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo – as well as former National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger.
According to Schumer’s office, the tour’s objective is to boost American economic and national security interests in the area, and it will include talks with officials and corporate representatives from each country as well as from American businesses doing business there. In China, Schumer will focus specifically “on the need for reciprocity in China for U.S. businesses that will level the playing field for American workers, as well as on maintaining U.S. leadership in advanced technologies for national security,” his office said – reiterating the demands already presented by Raimondo in his August visit.
Schumer has often asked the U.S. government to adopt a tougher stance toward China, and earlier this year he urged legislators to start new legislation to address worries about the second-largest economy in the world.
It is not yet known whether the delegation will be granted a meeting with the Chinese president during their stay in the People’s Republic.
