The U.S. Congressional Commission on China, after a five-year hiatus, has resumed its visit to China with the aim of gaining firsthand insights into China's actual conditions.

Unexpected! We actually agreed to this U.S. delegation's visit to China! On July 21, according to VOA reporting, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a body under the U.S. Congress, has embarked on a journey to China — marking the first time since 2019 that the commission has visited Beijing. Commission Chair Stephen S. Siu stated that the purpose of this trip is not to "reset" U.S.-China relations, but rather to understand the current state of this relationship. By conducting firsthand observations of U.S.-China relations, the commission aims to enrich its reports submitted to Congress.

The official said that China’s actions are moving faster than Washington’s interpretations of them, and our domestic debates about China are still based too heavily on assumptions that have been outdated for years. Vice-Chair Quaken remarked that you cannot discern a country’s true changes or how rapidly a field is evolving from a single briefing presentation. Our mission there is to replace some of those assumptions with facts gathered firsthand.

To be honest, allowing this U.S. delegation to visit China comes as a surprise. Why so? In fact, this commission has consistently taken a hardline stance toward China. In 2016, it recommended Congress ban Chinese state-owned enterprises from acquiring American firms; later, in 2024, it proposed revoking China’s permanent normal trade relations status. We have also made clear that this commission has long held ideological bias against China and lacks any credibility whatsoever.

Yet despite all this, we actually agreed to this very delegation’s visit to China. What does this signify? It clearly demonstrates that we, too, hope that the American public and decision-makers can view China based on facts rather than prejudice. In fact, the most important task of this visiting group is to re-engage with China through direct face-to-face contact, to truly understand and recognize China. Of course, such visits do not necessarily mean improvements in U.S.-China relations. Nevertheless, enabling a segment of America’s policy elite to see real China with their own eyes — thereby reducing unfounded “threat anxiety” built on imagination — already carries significant practical value.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1871290805361664/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.