Congressional staff delegations and exchange programs between the United States and Asian countries have long been a top priority for the Institute. These delegations serve to actively immerse participants in issues on US-Asia relations and create links between the legislators in the United States with their counterparts in Asia.

USAI has successfully organized more than 200 delegations to Asia under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act (MECEA) guidelines, facilitating firsthand observation and interaction with Asian colleagues for almost 2,000 Congressional Members and staff. Themes for these delegations have included trade, non-proliferation, environmental protection, energy, rule of law, regional and global security, economic development and terrorism.

The majority of the US-Asia Institute’s Congressional staff delegations travel to China. Over 1,500 Congressional staff members have traveled to China on USAI delegations. The delegations have traveled to nearly every corner of China from Harbin to Hainan Island to Xinjiang and Tibet. The success of our delegations relies on close cooperation with our Chinese partners: the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA) and the National People’s Congress (NPC).

The US-Asia Institute has also hosted 8 Congressional delegations to Singapore with the Singapore International Foundation, 15 Congressional delegations to Japan with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a handful of delegations and exchanges to South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia. We also recommend delegates to Vietnam and Thailand for their programs.