C100 Hosts Inaugural Capitol Hill Briefing

On April 28, the C-100 Policy Engagement Committee, in partnership with the Senate U.S.-China Working Group, hosted a briefing on the impact of Chinese tourism on the U.S. economy and U.S.-China relations at the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The briefing featured remarks from C-100 member Dali Yang, Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago; Yukon Huang, Senior Associate in the Carnegie Endowment’s Asia Program; and Patricia Rojas-Ungár, Vice President of Government Relations for the U.S. Travel Association.

Professor Yang discussed the benefits of Chinese tourism to the U.S. for people-to-people relations, and explained how the rise of China’s middle class is fueling the demand for tourism to the U.S. Dr. Huang described the economic benefits of Chinese tourism to the U.S., noting that a key outcome of visitation is foreign direct investment (FDI) as about half of FDI ideas are generated through visitation to the recipient country. Ms. Rojas-Ungár emphasized that “there is no market that has the potential for the U.S. economy that the Chinese market does,” and detailed ways in which the U.S. can better attract Chinese tourists.

Download the briefing’s executive summary to learn more, and look for future C-100 Capitol Hill Briefings on key issues influencing the U.S.-China relationship.

From left to right: C-100 Washington, D.C. Co-Chair Jeremy Wu, C-100 member Dali Yang, C-100 governor Henry Tang, Patricia Rojas-Ungár, C-100 chairman Clarence Kwan, and Yukon Huang.