WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement with Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) on President Biden’s meeting with President Xi.
“We welcome the progress between President Biden and the People’s Republic of China’s President Xi, particularly on fentanyl, climate cooperation, and military-to-military communications. These are some of the most pressing issues in our bilateral relationship and we applaud President Biden for his leadership in engaging with the People’s Republic of China to address them. While China has taken some long-overdue steps to curb the production and shipment of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, Beijing must do much more to stop this illicit trade. It is absolutely critical that we have bilateral mechanisms in place for regular follow up with Beijing in order to measure tangible progress on ending this deadly trade that has led to the loss of countless American lives. We stand ready to work to ensure Beijing lives up to their commitments.
“Responsible management of the U.S.-China relationship is critical to the United States and to our allies and partners around the world. While challenges between Washington and Beijing persist on a number of issues, including Taiwan, human rights, and the unjust and unlawful detention of American citizens in China, open dialogue between our two leaders remains critical. We hope that the U.S. and China can build on this progress going forward.”
###