China hails rare visit by US lawmakers as ‘ice-breaking journey’

Beijing says visit will help find ‘right way for the two great powers to coexist on this planet’

China hailed a rare visit by a delegation of U.S. lawmakers as an “ice-breaking journey” and maintained that Beijing and Washington were not rivals but “partners”.

Foreign minister Wang Yi met with the bipartisan delegation led by Democrat Adam Smith on Tuesday as the two sides sought to thaw bilateral relations.

This is the first visit by members of the U.S. House of Representatives to Beijing in six years and comes amid strained relations over trade, tariffs, technology, and differing views on global conflicts such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Bilateral ties have been patchy since U.S. president Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on China earlier this year and Beijing retaliated. But talks in recent months, in Switzerland, Britain and Spain, have helped ease some of the tensions.

Welcoming the delegation of four lawmakers, Mr Yi hoped their visit would enable the US to “view China objectively”.

The trip had “opened another window for engagement between the two countries”, Mr Yi said, according to a statement by the foreign ministry.

He hoped the visit would “help the US understand China accurately” and view it “objectively, approach differences rationally, engage in friendly interactions and explore cooperation actively”.

It would ultimately contribute to finding “the right way for the two great powers to coexist on this planet”, the foreign minister said.

Mr Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the trip was aimed at, among other things, improving military-to-military ties with China.

The delegation also met with defense minister Dong Jun and separately with vice premier He Lifeng. They had held talks with premier Li Qiang on Sunday.

“We want to open up better lines of communication between our two countries in general, in particular between our defence structures,” Mr Smith told Mr Dong.

Striking a different tone in its statement, the US embassy in China said the visiting delegation spoke to the foreign minister about Beijing’s territorial disputes with its neighbours and policies on fentanyl.

“The delegation raised concerns with China’s territorial disputes with neighbouring countries, the desire to see more action related to fentanyl, the hope for meaningful steps to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, and the need for proactive engagement with Russia to help end the war in Ukraine,” it said.

The delegation also includes Michael Baumgartner, Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Ro Khanna and Chrissy Houlahan, both Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee.

The lawmakers are in China until Thursday.

The visit came after Mr Trump and Mr Xi spoke on the phone on Friday. The president said he would meet with his Chinese counterpart at a regional summit taking place at the end of October in South Korea and then visit China in the “early part of next year”.