US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make a rare visit to China over the weekend, where he intends to initiate a diplomatic rapprochement with Beijing and call for “responsible management” of tensions between the two great powers.
“Secretary Blinken will meet with senior Chinese officials and discuss the importance of keeping the lines of communication open to responsibly managing the China-United States of America (US) relationship,” the State Department said Wednesday, confirming the declaration of the long-awaited diplomatic trip. , originally scheduled for February.
A meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping has not been confirmed.
Classifying itself as “realistic,” the United States does not expect to make great “gains” but at least hopes to “reduce the risk of miscalculations that could escalate into conflict,” according to US officials.
“We are not going to Beijing with the intention of achieving breakthroughs or transformations,” State Department Asia chief Daniel Kritenbrink told reporters.
Another US official, Kurt Campbell, stressed that “efforts to shape or reform China in recent decades have failed,” saying he hoped China would remain “a major player on the international stage” for a long time to come.
Bilateral relations remain tense on a number of issues: US-Taiwan ties, rivalry in technology and trade, or even Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.
This visit by the head of US diplomacy had been postponed in February following the incursion of a Chinese balloon into US airspace.
“Since the beginning of the year, China-US relations have faced new difficulties and challenges. It is clear whose responsibility lies,” Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said in a phone call with Blinken on Thursday, according to Beijing.
In the phone call, the minister “explained China’s solemn position on the Taiwan issue,” the main point of friction between the two powers, as well as “other essential concerns” for Beijing, the press release underlines.
China considers Taiwan one of its provinces, which has yet to be successfully reunified with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
This visit by Antony Blinken follows the meeting last November between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Indonesia.
The two leaders agreed to cooperate on certain issues.
Relations between the two powers were strained again in February after the incident involving an alleged spy balloon, which Beijing insists was a weather device that veered off course.
At that point, and under pressure, Antony Blinken immediately canceled his trip to China at the last minute.
Now, back in the Asian country, Blinken will also take the opportunity to put the problem of the opioid fentanyl on the table, whose chemical components are exported from China to Mexico, where, according to Washington, the substance is manufactured.
State Department spokesman Matt Miller stressed today that US concerns are “well known” and include, among others, the fentanyl trade and China’s “alignment” with Russia in the Ukraine war.
Friction between Washington and Mexico has erupted in recent months over fentanyl, an opioid that has caused a record number of overdose deaths in the United States, as the two governments accuse each other of not doing enough to curb trafficking and the consumption of the product.
The Mexican government denies that the substance is manufactured in its territory and points to China, which also denies being behind the export of the opioid.
In a Senate appearance in May, Blinken accused Beijing of not “genuinely cooperating” with Washington to curb drug trafficking.
Antony Blinken is expected to travel to Beijing and London between Friday and June 21, the US State Department confirmed today.
In London, Blinken will participate in the Ukraine Recovery Conference, an initiative created to help mobilize public and private international support to help Kiev recover from the Russian attacks.
Still in London, the head of US diplomacy will also meet with members of the British government, as well as with governments of allied countries.
Source: TSF
