The U.S. lawmaker leading a bipartisan delegation from Congress to China told the Chinese defense minister on Monday that the United States wants to “open up the lines of communication” between the two countries, especially with regard to military ties between the U.S. and China. The Associated Press reported that the first official delegation from the House of Representatives to China since 2019 is currently visiting China and will remain in the country until Thursday. During Monday’s visit with Dong, Smith explained that maintaining communication between the United States and China is important since he believes both the U.S. and China want to promote peace and security across the world. Addressing the delegation’s visit to China, Dong said it “shows a good phase in strengthening China-U.S. communications” and emphasized that improving communications between China and the United States “is the right thing to do.”The Associated Press reported that the congressional delegation’s visit to China comes after President Donald Trump had a phone call with Xi on Friday. The outlet noted that Trump confirmed he will meet with the Chinese president at a summit in South Korea in October and that he will also visit China in the “early part of next year.”