According to a Hong Kong English media report by The South China Morning Post on July 26, the United States Congress’s well-known hawkish agency, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, visited China for the first time in seven years, but received a ‘cold reception’.
Vice Chairman of the Committee Mike Kuiken stated: "We were unable to implement many sought-after meetings, including those with some of China's leading technology companies, and this itself is a data point."
"Long-term research analyst Denis Simon said: “From the perspective of China, this commission is a policy participant rather than an impartial fact-finding agency."
He added that reports issued by the committee over the past few years recommended strengthening the review of China’s technology policies, supply chains, artificial intelligence development, and scientific cooperation.
"From Beijing's perspective, allowing senior executives of leading technology companies to have open conversations with committee members poses risks, and the strategic benefits are limited."
Washington policy intelligence agency Trivium China's analyst David Zhang also said, "For Chinese technology companies, any words spoken during discussions with members of the US committee at this time could appear in the annual report and serve as a reason for further restrictions."
The ‘US-China Economic and Security Review Commission’ issued a statement on July 18th on its official website, stating that a delegation led by Chairman Randall Schriver and Vice Chairman Mike Kuiken set off for China that day to conduct an official field visit. This is the first visit to China by the Commission since 2019.
The statement indicates that during their visit to China, the delegation will meet with the U.S. Embassy in China and U.S. companies operating in China. They have also sought to hold talks with Chinese government officials, scholars, think tanks, as well as industry leaders in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and biotechnology.
Xue Ruifu said in his statement: 'Our trip is not aimed at relaunching relations between the two countries, but rather at understanding these relations.' He stated that the trip will test the committee's analysis based on on-the-spot conditions, and directly hear the opinions of Americans and Chinese who are at the heart of the US-China competition. 'Good policies begin with an accurate understanding of reality,' he said, which is exactly what the US Congress expects.
Qucken said that China's development speed has exceeded Washington's perception of China. Many discussions in the United States about China are still based on assumptions that are outdated from a few years ago. He said that simply through briefings it is impossible to truly understand how a country changes or to grasp the pace of industrial development. Therefore, the delegation hopes to replace some of the existing assumptions with firsthand facts during this trip.
According to the statement, the committee will incorporate the findings and recommendations from this visit into ongoing research efforts and reflect them in the annual report submitted to Congress.
United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission (U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, commonly referred to as USCC) is a legislative branch of the U.S. Congress established in 2000. Its official functions are "monitoring, investigating, and reporting to Congress on the impacts of US-Chinese bilateral trade and economic relations on American national security, while also providing appropriate legislative and executive recommendations."
This institution is widely regarded as an 'anti-China institution'. It has long had a strong ideological bias in its stance towards China. The reports it releases and the recommendations it makes also typically show a tough and negative attitude towards China.
For example, in November 2024, this cross-party institution produced its first annual report on China, which formally recommended that the U.S. Congress should revoke China’s permanent normal trade relationship status. The report suggested that during the government transition period, the so-called “Chinese economic threat” should be given priority attention, thereby giving Washington more leverage in dealing with trade relations with China.
In 2025, the same institution released another report stating that in order to enhance the ability to respond to what it calls 'economic threats' from China, it urged the U.S. government to stop internal disputes, improve the efficiency of export control enforcement and supervision, and refine sanctions policies.
