Ahead of Trump's Arrival, US Senators Visit Beijing

JAKARTA - Senator from the Republican Party and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Steve Daines, led a bipartisan congressional delegation of five senators on a visit to China.

The visit comes less than two weeks before the arrival of US President Donald Trump, who is scheduled to visit on May 14-15 and will meet with President Xi Jinping.

"This visit is the first bipartisan delegation of senators from the United States Congress to visit China since President Trump took office, so it has an important symbolic meaning," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said when meeting with Daines, reported by ANTARA, Thursday, May 7.

The delegation consists of Steve Daines (Republican, Montana state), Maria Cantwell (Democrat, Washington state), Deb Fischer (Republican, Nebraska state), Mike Lee (Republican, Utah state) and Jerry Moran (Republican, Kansas state).

In addition to Beijing, the delegation will also visit various technology companies in Shanghai and meet with Chinese officials.

"We hope that they can feel the new atmosphere of China's development through this visit, build a new communication bridge, discuss new areas of cooperation, and add impetus to the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-US relations," Wang Yi added.

Wang Yi stated that China-US relations are related to the well-being of the people of both countries and affect the stability of the world order.

"China's policy towards the US is consistent. The two countries should make mutual respect and peaceful coexistence as principles and mutually beneficial cooperation as goals so as to contribute to world peace and stability," said Wang Yi.

Wang Yi also said that over the past year, President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump have had several phone calls and met in person to straighten out the direction of relations between the two countries.

"China is willing to work with the US to properly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state so that China-US relations can really become stable and improve, benefit both countries, and bring benefits to the world," said Wang Yi.

According to Wang Yi, the key to China and the US being able to get along well is to resolve the issue of their different perceptions of each other and properly install the "first button" of the relationship between the two countries.

"China and the United States have different social systems and development paths, but both are rooted in the accumulation of their respective history and culture, and are the choices of the respective peoples of their respective countries. The two can grow together without harming each other," Wang Yi said.

He also assessed that China and the US should both seek "harmony in differences", becoming partners and not opponents.

"China will not pursue a strong country will definitely seek hegemony, but will continue to adhere to peaceful development and firmly pursue the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics," said Wang Yi.

China also hopes that the US will view China objectively, build a rational perception of China, earnestly respect China's core interests, manage differences well, and join hands to do more great and beneficial things for both countries and the world.

Meanwhile, senators from the US are said to have shared their impressions during their visit to China as well as their views on the development of US-China relations.

Both sides also exchanged views on international and regional issues of common concern.

In his official website, Steve Daines said the US needs to understand China's innovation ecosystem in order to compete effectively with China.

"That's why I'm happy to be here with my colleagues. With the US and China contributing 40 percent of the total world economy, interacting with the Chinese is very important to maintain the US' global competitiveness," said Daines.

The visit was Daines' seventh visit to China since being elected to Congress. He last visited on March 23, 2025 and met with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang in Beijing.

When visiting in 2025, Daines came with leaders of major US companies from various sectors such as Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam, Cargill CEO Brian Sikes, and Boeing Senior Vice President Global Brendan Nelson.

Before entering politics, Daines had 13 years of experience leading the US company Procter and Gamble in management positions at Procter and Gamble, with the last six years in China to launch American brands to compete with Chinese companies.