(22 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Beijing – 22 March 2025
1. United States Senator Steve Daines entering Xinjiang Room at the Great Hall of the People and being received by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng
2. Cutaway of media
3. He Lifeng greeting Cindy Daines, wife of Steve Daines
4. Wide of meeting
5. Close of Senator Daines
6. Mid of He Lifeng speaking
7. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) He Lifeng, Chinese Vice Premier:
”You have worked in Guangzhou for a period of time. I believe the experience helped you understand China and the situation of China since the ‘reform and opening up’. You will meet Premier Li Qiang tomorrow who will give you an introduction to China’s policies.”
8. Mid of Senator Daines speaking
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Daines, Republican Senator from Montana:
"On this visit of course we are at a time when we have important issues to discuss between our two countries."
10. Close of He Lifeng speaking
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Daines, Republican Senator from Montana:
"I’ve always believed in having constructive dialogue and that has been the nature of all my visits to China over the course of many years."
12. Wide pan down of meeting
STORYLINE:
U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, met with China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng with warm exchanges in front of journalists on Saturday as tensions between their countries spiked over trade tariffs and the handling of illegal trade in fentanyl.
Daines, the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump took office in January, will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday and the Chinese No. 2 official will talk about China’s broad policies and situation, He said.
Before journalists were escorted out of the meeting room at the Great Hall of the People, He greeted Daines and extended a welcome to his wife Cindy.
He said he believed the Daines’ work experience in Guangzhou, the country’s southern economic hub, had provided him with an opportunity to understand China better.
Daines, who worked for American consumer goods company Procter & Gamble in Guangzhou, said this trip comes at a time when there are "important issues" to discuss between the two countries.
“I’ve always believed in having constructive dialogue and that has been the nature of all my visits to China over the course of many years,” he said.
Ahead of Daines’s China trip that began on Thursday, his office said he is coordinating closely with the White House and will be "carrying President Trump’s America First agenda."
Daines served as a go-between during the first Trump administration when tariffs were also a major issue.
Just months into Trump’s second term, tensions between the world’s two largest economies have risen after the U.S. imposed 20% duties on Chinese goods and drew retaliatory tariffs of 15% on U.S. farm goods from China.
Additionally, the U.S. accuses China of doing too little to stop the export of precursor materials for fentanyl, a highly potent opiate blamed for tens of thousands of deaths in the U.S.
In response, China’s foreign minister Wang Yi earlier this month accused Washington of “meeting good with evil” and said China will continue to retaliate for the United States’ “arbitrary tariffs."
Beijing also responded with a report detailing its efforts to control the illegal trade in fentanyl, specifically the ingredients for the opioid that are made in China.
Daines arrived in Beijing on Thursday and exchanged views with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu on bilateral relations and issues of mutual concern on the second day.
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