Washington: US lawmakers from both parties intensified pressure on President Donald Trump ahead of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, urging him to confront Beijing on issues ranging from North Korean refugees and political prisoners to trade barriers, fentanyl and American manufacturing.
In one of the sharpest bipartisan appeals, Congressman James Walkinshaw and Senator Tim Kaine urged Trump to press China to stop forcibly returning North Korean refugees, warning that those sent back face “torture, forced labour in prison camps, sexual assault, imprisonment, or execution”.
The lawmakers said China was violating its obligations under the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention by repatriating North Koreans despite knowing the dangers awaiting them.
“Chinese authorities are systematically and knowingly forcing hundreds of North Koreans back to a place where they will face mistreatment and retribution,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter referred to the recent findings from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that Beijing forcibly repatriated 600 North Korean refugees in October 2023, described as the largest such operation on record, followed by another 200 in April 2024.
The appeal was signed by lawmakers, including Senators Chris Van Hollen, Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch, along with Representatives Ami Bera, James McGovern and Suhas Subramanyam.
Separately, House lawmakers led by Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington pushed the administration to secure the removal of China’s 10 per cent tariff on American cotton during the trade negotiations.
The lawmakers said China remained critical for US cotton exports because it operated “the world’s largest textile industry”. They noted that American cotton exports to China had fallen “by 87 per cent in 2025 due to China’s unjustified retaliation against US enforcement actions”.
The letter also underlined China’s massive role in global textile consumption, saying: “Together, China and India represent 55 per cent of world mill consumption.”
Top Senate Democrats, meanwhile, accused Trump of weakening America’s strategic position against China ahead of the summit in Beijing.
“The Trump Administration’s China policy has been one failure after another for American taxpayers and US national security,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democratic senators said in a joint statement.
The senators accused Trump of walking back export controls, weakening alliances and failing to stop fentanyl flows into the United States.
Schumer also used a Senate floor speech to warn Trump against making concessions to Xi that could hurt American manufacturing and national security.
“Donald Trump may have no interest in helping the American people get ahead, but he certainly seems willing to give China a leg up,” Schumer said.
He warned that Trump could “sell out America on chips and AI” and “sell out Taiwan”.
At the same time, the House prepared to vote on a resolution introduced by Congressman Chris Smith urging Trump to raise the cases of political prisoners during his talks with Xi.
The resolution highlighted jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, detained pastors, Uyghur detainees and American citizens imprisoned in China.
“America will not be silent while the Chinese Communist Party imprisons the innocent and reaches across borders to threaten their families,” Smith said during the House debate.
The Trump-Xi summit comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade, technology, Taiwan, human rights and supply chain security.
(IANS)
