{"id":1431422,"date":"2023-10-08T19:10:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T23:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1431422"},"modified":"2023-10-08T19:10:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T23:10:00","slug":"schumer-meets-shanghai-party-chief-in-bipartisan-senate-trip-to-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/schumer-meets-shanghai-party-chief-in-bipartisan-senate-trip-to-china\/1431422\/","title":{"rendered":"Schumer Meets Shanghai Party Chief In Bipartisan Senate Trip To China"},"content":{"rendered":"

Schumer Meets Shanghai Party Chief In Bipartisan Senate Trip To China<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Frank Fang and Eva Fu via The Epoch Times<\/a> (emphasis ours),<\/em><\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met with Shanghai’s communist party boss in his first stop leading a bipartisan delegation to China, telling the latter he wants to see a level playing field as the two countries engage in economic competition.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The meeting took place shortly after the senators\u2019 arrival in Shanghai on an overcast and windy Saturday afternoon, which marks the first day of a three-country tour that will also take them to South Korea and Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of our constituents feel that in instances China does not treat American companies fairly<\/strong>,\u201d Mr. Schumer told Shanghai communist party secretary Chen Jining, adding that such feelings affect \u201cAmerica’s view of China.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe we need reciprocity allowing American companies to compete as freely in China as Chinese companies are able to compete here,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are prepared to compete but we do not seek to conflict.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

The delegation is co-led by Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idado). The four other senators on the trip are Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.).<\/p>\n

The Shanghai official in his public remarks avoided going into specific issues, stressing instead the importance of a stable China\u2013U.S. relationship. Noting the over 5,600 U.S. companies in the Chinese city, he also offered windows to promote trade at the local level.<\/p>\n

Mr. Schumer also raised the issue of fentanyl, noting the supply of fentanyl precursors enabling the opioid\u2019s production in Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are fueling the fentanyl crisis that is poisoning communities across the United States,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery one of us knows families who have lost young men and women to fentanyl.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.) (R) and other members of the delegation arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, on Oct. 7, 2023. (Aly Song\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Last month, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai found in its annual poll<\/a> that U.S. firms\u2019s China outlook was the worst in decades. Regulatory challenges facing U.S. firms included a lack of intellectual property protection, data localization, and other cybersecurity requirements.<\/p>\n

The senators\u2019 trip comes after Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo\u2019s visit to China in August. During her trip, she said American companies had complained to her that China has become \u201cuninvestable<\/a>,\u201d citing changes to counterespionage laws, exorbitant fines without any explanation, and Chinese authorities\u2019 raids on foreign firms.<\/p>\n

In September, Ms. Raimondo told NBC in an interview that the United States was trying to \u201cchoke\u201d China\u2019s military capacity. \u201cCertainly, on my watch, we are not going to sell the most sophisticated American chip to China that they want for their military capacity,\u201d she said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and John Kerry, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, have all visited China this year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Oct. 5 that the Biden administration has been in touch with the senate delegation and \u201ccertainly support[s]\u201d their visit to the region.<\/p>\n

The China trip also took place amid bilateral tensions in the backdrop. On Saturday, China\u2019s commerce ministry complained about the new U.S. restrictions on 42 Chinese companies<\/a> that allegedly supplied parts to the Russian military, claiming it was \u201ca typical act of economic coercion and unilateral bullying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Xi Is an Adversary\u2019<\/h2>\n

Before the delegation arrived in China, several Republican senators took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express doubts about engaging with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing [Schumer] says will stop the CCP\u2019s human rights abuses, shipping of deadly fentanyl to our border or theft of American resources<\/strong>,\u201d Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) wrote<\/a> on Oct. 6.<\/p>\n

Mexico cartels have been buying<\/a> precursor chemicals from China to make fentanyl and ship finished products to the United States. On Oct. 3, the Treasury Department sanctioned<\/a> more than 20 entities and individuals in China involved in a network for manufacturing and distributing fentanyl and other drugs.<\/p>\n

On the same day, the Justice Department charged<\/a> eight Chinese corporations and 12 Chinese nationals for allegedly illegally important fentanyl and related chemicals into the United States.<\/p>\n

In a separate X post on Oct. 6, Mr. Scott urged<\/a> Mr. Schumer to ask CCP officials why they had recently placed a floating barrier at the entrance to the lagoon at Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground for Philippine fishermen.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could ask them why they\u2019re putting up illegal barriers to impede navigation and harm the fishers,\u201d Mr. Scott wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s acts of aggression like this that tell us precisely who Xi is, an adversary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) speaks during a press conference in the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 11, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu\/The Epoch Times)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Also ahead of the delegation\u2019s arrival in China, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) released a short clip, explaining that he couldn\u2019t be on the delegation because he had been sanctioned<\/a> by China.<\/p>\n

The CCP imposed sanctions<\/a> on Mr. Rubio and several other lawmakers in 2020, in retaliation against U.S. sanctions<\/a> against Chinese and Hong Kong officials for undermining Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy and freedoms.<\/p>\n

Also in his clip, Mr. Rubio warned that the United States cannot accommodate the CCP.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, [China\u2019s] viewpoint is, no matter how much these politicians talk tough, they\u2019re so addicted to what we can provide them, and in the end, they\u2019re really limited to what they can do. <\/strong>And they will perceive these leadership trips as an indicator of us looking for an exit strategy and an accommodation on that front,\u201d Mr. Rubio says in the video.<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) said Mr. Schumer should not have traveled to China; instead, the Senate Majority leader should have canceled<\/a> the Senate\u2019s October recess and have the senators debate all 12 appropriations bills<\/a>, to avert another government shutdown on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing Chuck Schumer should be doing is going to China to try to secure a meeting with Xi Jinping with the appropriations process unfinished,\u201d Mr. Hagerty wrote<\/a> on Oct. 6.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSun, 10\/08\/2023 – 15:10<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/schumer-meets-shanghai-party-chief-bipartisan-senate-trip-china<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Schumer Meets Shanghai Party Chief In Bipartisan Senate Trip To China Authored by Frank Fang and Eva Fu via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours), Senate…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1431422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-60ns","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}