Congressmen Kirk and Larsen with Chairman Wu Bangguo

The National Committee’s involvement in Congressional delegations to China was renewed shortly after China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s (CNOOC) attempted acquisition of UNOCAL failed due to Congressional objections. This was a vivid reminder of the importance of the American Congress in U.S.-China relations and the valuable role that the National Committee could play in Congressional leadership education.

The National Committee took a major step in this direction in January 2006 when, for the first time in many years, it the two co-chairs of the newly formed bipartisan Congressional U.S.-China Working Group (USCWG), Rick Larsen (D-Washington) and Mark Kirk (R-Illinois), and a member of the Working Group, Tom Feeney (R-Florida). National Committee president Stephen Orlins accompanied the delegation, which also included the two co-staff directors of the USCWG, Richard Goldberg (R) and Louis Lauter (D). With a focus on border and security issues, the delegation was the first foreign group since 1989 to visit the manned-space launch center in Jiuquan, where the Vice Space Administrator agreed to work with NASA in developing a joint space rescue capability.

As the co-sponsor for all USCWG delegations to China, the National Committee has arranged subsequent visits for USCWG members in 2007 (to Beijing, Urumqi, Kashgar, and Shanghai), holding substantive meetings on Olympic security, U.S.-China defense cooperation and a military-to-military hotline, food and product safety, border security, counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics trafficking, and trade and economic policy, and in 2009 (to Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing), with a primary focus on economic and trade issues.

We are currently working on a Congressional trip in late winter 2009/2010 that will focus on energy and climate change issues.