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US Lawmakers Led by Senate Majority Leader Schumer Arrive in China on First Such Visit since 2019

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, and other members of the delegation arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (Aly Song/Pool Photo via AP)
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, and other members of the delegation arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (Aly Song/Pool Photo via AP)
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US Lawmakers Led by Senate Majority Leader Schumer Arrive in China on First Such Visit since 2019

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, and other members of the delegation arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (Aly Song/Pool Photo via AP)
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, and other members of the delegation arrive at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. (Aly Song/Pool Photo via AP)

A delegation of US lawmakers led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer arrived in China on Saturday in the first congressional visit to the country since 2019.
The trip comes amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries and as Chinese and American officials try to lay the groundwork for a possible meeting between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November, The Associated Press said.
The delegation of six senators, which includes three Democrats and three Republicans, landed in Shanghai in the mid-afternoon. The Republicans were led by Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, the senior member of his party on the Senate Finance Committee. Schumer is a New York Democrat.
A series of high-ranking Biden administration officials have met their Chinese counterparts in Beijing in recent months, but no other US lawmakers have made the trip since China lifted its COVID-19 restrictions in December of last year.
China said in a statement earlier this week that it hoped the visit would “contribute to a more objective understanding of China in the US Congress.”
Schumer's office said he would focus on the need for reciprocity from China for US business in trade and on maintaining American leadership in advanced technologies for national security. He also hopes to discuss human rights, fentanyl production, and China's role in the international community, as well as areas for potential cooperation.
A smooth visit could help pave the way for a Biden-Xi summit during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting in San Francisco next month. The senators hope to meet Xi in Beijing during their visit.
A Chinese international relations expert said that Schumer's visit is a sign of improvement in China-US relations.
“If the talks proceed well, there is the possibility that President Xi will meet Schumer,” said Wang Yiwei, the director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University of China. “If their meeting is realized, the chances for a Xi-Biden meeting will become greater.”
The White House has been in touch with Schumer and supports the delegation's visit to the region, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said after the trip was announced. The senators will go to South Korea and Japan after their stop in China.

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Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia Condemns ‘Irresponsible’ Talk of Nuclear Weapons for Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a press conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia October 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Discussion in the West about arming Ukraine with nuclear weapons is "absolutely irresponsible", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, in response to a report in the New York Times citing unidentified officials who suggested such a possibility.

The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

"Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications," the newspaper wrote.

Asked about the report, Peskov told reporters: "These are absolutely irresponsible arguments of people who have a poor understanding of reality and who do not feel a shred of responsibility when making such statements. We also note that all of these statements are anonymous."

Earlier, senior Russian security official Dmitry Medvedev said that if the West supplied nuclear weapons to Ukraine then Moscow could consider such a transfer to be tantamount to an attack on Russia, providing grounds for a nuclear response.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said last month that as Ukraine had handed over the nuclear weapons, joining NATO was the only way it could deter Russia.

The 33-month Russia-Ukraine war saw escalations on both sides last week, after Ukraine fired US and British missiles into Russia for the first time, with permission from the West, and Moscow responded by launching a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile into Ukraine.

Asked about the risk of a nuclear escalation, Peskov said the West should "listen carefully" to Putin and read Russia's newly updated nuclear doctrine, which lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

Separately, Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said Moscow opposes simply freezing the conflict in Ukraine because it needs a "solid and long-term peace" that resolves the core reasons for the crisis.