In March 2008, the Committee took its latest delegation of Congressional staffers to China, continuing its history of organizing and executing U.S. Congressional staff trips to China, first begun in 1976. The delegation visit also continued the Committee’s successful working relationships with the U.S.-China Working Group, the National People’s Congress and the Chinese Embassy.

During the eight-day visit to Beijing, Yunnan (including Kunming, Jinghong in Xishuangbanna and the border town of Da Luo), and Shanghai, delegation members – nine from the House, one from the Senate, equally divided between Republicans and Democrats – met with their counterparts and officials at the National People’s Congress, as well as with representatives from the Public Security Bureau, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Several security specialists were also brought together by the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies to meet with the group and discuss issues including energy security, efforts to combat terrorism and narcotics trafficking, and various issues in the Sino-American relationship. These discussions were supplemented with site visits and meetings with members of the business and NGO communities (both Chinese and international), U.S. Embassy officers, and private Chinese citizens.

This program was arranged with funding from the National People’s Congress, under the Mutual Education and Cultural Exchange Act, and with facilitative assistance from the Starr Foundation.

This delegation visit falls closely on the heels of another Congressional staff trip, taken in July 2007, in which the delegation visited several small cities and towns in western China’s Qinghai Province.