Taiwan’s Tsai Joins US Lawmakers and CEOs of Apple and Disney in a Meeting on China’s Economic Influence

A group of US lawmakers from both parties is heading to California this week to discuss China-related issues with some of the most influential figures in the technology and entertainment industries and Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen.

Why it matters

The trip, led by Representative Mike Gallagher, the chair of the House Select Committee on China, is part of an effort to understand how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affects different sectors of American society and economy, and to formulate a coherent strategy to counter its growing influence and aggression.

What they are saying

The lawmakers will start their visit in Los Angeles on Wednesday, where they will meet with Walt Disney Co. CEO **Bob Iger** and other Hollywood executives to talk about how the CCP imposes censorship and propaganda on US films in exchange for access to the lucrative Chinese market. They will also meet with Taiwan’s President **Tsai Ing-wen**, who is stopping by on her way back from Central America, where she attended the inauguration of Guatemala’s new president.

On Thursday, the delegation will travel to the San Francisco Bay Area, where they will have lunch with executives from Google, Microsoft, Palantir and Apple. They will also meet with Apple’s CEO **Tim Cook**, who has been praised and criticized for his company’s engagement with China. In the evening, they will dine with prominent venture capitalists, such as Marc Andreessen and Vinod Khosla, who have invested in many startups that operate in or compete with China.

The big picture

The House Select Committee on China, which was established earlier this year, has been holding hearings and conducting outreach activities to examine various aspects of the US-China competition, such as trade, technology, human rights, security and diplomacy. The committee’s goal is to produce a comprehensive report with recommendations for Congress and the administration on how to deal with China’s challenges and opportunities.

The committee’s visit to California comes at a time when US-China relations are strained over a range of issues, such as Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hong Kong’s autonomy, Xinjiang’s human rights abuses, Beijing’s economic coercion and cyberattacks, and Washington’s support for democracy and human rights around the world.