The National Committee regularly sends members of Congress to China, having arranged and escorted eight delegations since 2006. The week-long study tours are designed to educate the congressmen and women about China through personal introductions to senior Chinese leaders and a range of informative site visits and meetings.

These visits complement the National Committee’s other efforts to educate Congress on issues relating to China, including its Congressional Staff Delegations to China and Capitol Hill Briefings for New Members of Congress. The organization has a long tradition of congressional education, beginning in 1976, when it organized the first delegation of congressional staffers to the People’s Republic of China.

After a hiatus of two decades, 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 in 2005 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 escorted 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) to China. National Committee President Stephen Orlins accompanied the delegation, which also included the two co-staff directors of the USCWG. 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.

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