WASHINGTON, DC – Two members of Washington State's congressional delegation – one Democrat and one Republican – delivered a unified message about the importance of sustained engagement with China during remarks Monday night at a dinner meeting of The Ripon Society and Franklin Center for Global Policy Exchange.
U.S. Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA-9), the former Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and current Ranking Member, and Michael Baumgartner (R-WA-5), a first-term member with extensive foreign policy experience, recently traveled to Beijing as part of the first House delegation to visit China since 2019. In their remarks, the two lawmakers emphasized that while the United States faces significant challenges in its relationship with China, the two nations must find ways to peacefully coexist and compete in an increasingly multipolar world.
"China's not going anywhere," Smith stated in remarks to kick off the discussion. "They're a major economic power. We have got to figure out how to coexist with them. That's not to say that we don't have things that we're competing with them on, that they're not doing things in the world that are deeply problematic that we don't need to deal with. But I think viewing this as a zero-sum game is a mistake, and it's a mistake on China's part too."
The bipartisan congressional delegation's visit to China came after a six-year hiatus in House member travel to the country, during which the U.S.-China relationship experienced what Smith described as "significant deterioration." The lawmakers said their trip was designed to reestablish dialogue, deliver clear messages about American resolve and interests, and demonstrate that Republicans and Democrats can work together on critical national security issues.
Both congressmen bring substantial credentials to discussions of foreign policy and national security. Smith has spent decades as one of Congress's leading voices on defense issues, having served as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and currently serving as its Ranking Member. His expertise spans defense policy, military operations, and global strategic challenges.
Baumgartner, despite being in his first year in Congress, brings deep international experience to his role. Between attending Washington State University and Harvard University, he spent a year with the Jesuits in Mozambique doing development work. He later worked in Iraq and has extensive experience in international development and foreign policy.
"For somebody that does realize that it's a big, messy, dangerous Hobbesian world out there,” Baumgarter said, “it's just naive to think that we can close off and become Fortress isolation America.”
During their meetings in China, the lawmakers emphasized several critical issues. They stressed the need for regular military-to-military contacts throughout the chain of command – similar to protocols that existed during the Cold War with the Soviet Union – to prevent misunderstandings from spiraling into crises.
"During the Cold War with the Soviet Union, we had pretty regular military-to-military contacts kind of all up and down the chain," Baumgartner explained. "And so that if something were to happen, it didn't spin out of control. While President Trump and the Chinese chairman do have an ability to talk directly themselves, there aren't the general frequent military contacts up and down the chain of command. And that was something that we articulated on our trip."
The lawmakers also delivered a strong message about the fentanyl crisis devastating American communities.
"Every member of Congress has someone in their community, probably multiple members in their community that they know quite well on a personal level that has had their family devastated by fentanyl," Baumgartner noted, stressing that additional Chinese efforts to combat fentanyl production and trafficking are essential to improving bilateral relations.
Smith and Baumgartner also pushed back against what they characterized as unrealistic approaches to managing the China challenge. Smith described himself as a "de-risker and not a decoupler," expressing concern about proposals that would dramatically curtail economic and technological engagement with China.
"There's a feeling in America that we need to put our arm around all of our great research and all of our great technology because that way we can maintain our lead. The rest of the world can't possibly catch up. I think that's stupid," Smith said bluntly. "We toured a smartphone factory, and I've toured a lot of factories in the U.S. It's pretty impressive. They’ve got smart people doing smart things."
Smith warned that overly restrictive policies could backfire, isolating the United States from global markets and partnerships while failing to slow Chinese technological advancement. "When we place those limitations on what we can get from China and what we can give to China, it hurts us in the rest of the world," he argued. "The rest of the world is trying to figure out who they should do business with. We are isolating ourselves further and further, and I think we begin to fall behind and lose that edge."
Perhaps most significantly, both congressmen stressed that America's ability to effectively manage the China challenge depends on Republicans and Democrats presenting a united front to the world.
"One of the great problems as we face the rest of the world has been the difference between Trump's not president, Trump's president, Trump's not president, Trump's president," Smith observed. "The rest of the world is suffering a lot of whiplash about what does that mean in terms of where the U.S. is. How can they rely on us past a four-year cycle? The only way to break that is to get Republicans and Democrats to work together where we can."
Baumgartner echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the importance of framing America's international engagements in terms of national interest in ways that resonate across party lines. "For our voters,” he said, “what's really important is that we talk about what we do here in Congress, what we support, and how it is in the U.S. national interest.”
The two lawmakers have developed a strong working relationship through their travels, having also recently visited the Middle East together, including stops in Iraq, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain. Their collaboration represents the kind of bipartisan cooperation on foreign policy that both say is essential for effective American leadership in an increasingly complex and multipolar world.
"Whether we like it or not,” Smith said, “we are a global power. We are engaged with the rest of the world. And that engagement matters. It's important to show the world that we do have some things we agree on, and that we can work together and try to meet the national security interests of the U.S."
To view the remarks of Smith and Baumgartner in front of The Ripon Society and Franklin Center, please click the link below:
