A Needed Institution Appears: The Senate’s U.S.-China Working Group

Tuesday, October 8, 2013.  U.S. Senators Mark Kirk (IL) and Mazie Hirono (HI) met with Ambassador Cui Tiankai, China’s highest level representative to the United States, to discuss the future of U.S.-China relations and the establishment of the Senate U.S.-China Working Group (Senate USCWG). This new group will begin its work in the Senate later this year, complementing the existing bipartisan House of Representatives’ U.S.-China Working Group co-founded by Senator Kirk, while he was member of the House, and Representative Rick Larsen (WA).

Since the normalization of relations between China and the U.S., China has traditionally engaged the U.S. political system through the executive branch.  However, the post-Mao decentralization of the Chinese government allowed for Chinese local governments to engage in their own foreign affairs in pursuit of local interests. The mutual bilateral interest in subnational engagement has increased in light of the jump in China’s post-WTO accession import of U.S. goods, the compliance issues of China’s ‘sub-central entities’ regarding WTO government procurement obligations, and the intense local competition in the U.S. to get a piece of the massive influx of Chinese investment over the past decade. U.S. congressmen and Chinese national-level officials both are able to better represent their respective peoples’ interest through greater subnational engagement.

Expanding people-to-people relations is part of the Senate USCWG’s agenda, and will likely materialize in the form of greater participation in the next annual U.S.-China Governors’ Forum, a separate one-time function like the U.S.-China Initiative on City-Level Economic Cooperation, or subnational programming executed through the State Department’s Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs. Another possibility is that Senator Kirk’s home state of Illinois, which has a China foreign trade office and many sister city relationships in China, may be able to further diversify connectivity with China through subnational exchange opportunities made available through the Senate  USCWG.

We look forward to seeing the development of a constructive relationship between the Senate USCWG, the House USCWG, and the previously existing Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which has historically focused on watching human rights issues in China, one of the more contentious elements of the US/China relationship at the national level.

需要一个的机构出现：参议院的美中工作组

参议员广野庆子和参议员马克·柯克与崔天凯大使见面。10月8日，2013年。

图片：参议员柯克的办公室

2013年10月8日，星期二。美国参议员马克·柯克（ IL）和广野庆子（ HI）会见了大使崔天凯，作为中国最高等级的代表来到美国讨论美中关系的未来发展，并成立了参议院美中国工作组（Senate USCWG）。这个新的小组将在今年年底开始在参议院的工作，加入由参议员柯克参与创办的目前的两党众议院美中国工作组，而他也是众议院的成员，众议院议员里克·拉森的代表（华盛顿州）。

自从中国和美国之间的关系常态化后，中国历来通过行政部门参与美国的政治制度。然而，在后毛泽东时代中国政府的权力下放允许中国地方政府从事当地外交事物以增加地方利益。在地方政府参与到双边利益合作后，美国商品进入中国市场实现了进出口的飞跃，有关于WTO政府采购义务“中央下级实体”的中国合规问题, 为了赢得中国大量涌入的投资，在过去的十年美国出现激烈的本地竞争。 美国国会议员及中国国家一级官员都能够更好地通过提高地方政府参与代表各自人民的利益。

增进国民与国民之间的关系是参议院USCWG议程的一部分，将会在下届股东周年美中州（省）长论坛上尽可能落实独立的一次参与的形式，如双边市级经济合作，或地方政府规划通过国务院的国际政府事务特别代表执行。另一种可能是在参议员柯克的家乡伊利诺伊州，和中国的许多城市是姐妹城市关系，而且专门设立了一个中国对外贸易办公室，也许能通过参议院USCWG提供的地方政府交流机会以进一步与中国广泛连接。

我们期待着看到参议院USCWG，众议院USCWG，和目前国会行政部门中国委员会之间建设性关系的发展，这是历来聚焦于看重中国人权问题，在国家层面上美中关系较具争议性的要素之一。