US Senators to visit China, Japan, South Korea

According to the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a bipartisan delegation from the US Senate will go to China, Japan, and South Korea in October. Republican Mike Crapo, whose office previously stated that the trip is scheduled for next week and that the senators intend to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, will co-lead the group of six senators. Schumer urged senators to introduce fresh legislation earlier this year in an effort to allay worries about the second-largest economy in the world. Schumer has repeatedly urged the US to confront China more forcefully. Following a series of visits by Biden administration officials, notably Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce, in August, the trip was made. According to Schumer’s office, the trip’s objective is to boost American economic and national security interests in the area and will include discussions with officials from each country’s government and business community as well as representatives from American firms doing business there. Schumer “will focus 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. Republicans Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy, as well as Democrats Maggie Hassan and Jon Ossoff, are among the other senators travelling. On Monday, the Chinese Embassy declined to comment on the itinerary. In August, Raimondo had claimed that American businesses had complained that China had become “uninvestable,” citing fines, raids, and other steps that had made doing business there risky. “For U.S. business in many cases, patience is running thin, and it’s time for action,” she said, adding that companies face “exorbitant fines without any explanation, revisions to the counterespionage law, which are unclear and sending shock waves through the U.S. community; raids on businesses – a whole new level of challenge and we need that to be addressed.” (With agency inputs)