The heads of Chinese diplomacy, Qin Gang, and the United States, Anthony Blinken, met this Sunday in Beijing, at the beginning of the first visit by a US secretary of state to the country in five years.
Blinken arrived in Beijing early this morning, also becoming the highest-ranking US official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office in 2021.
He will remain in Beijing for two days, for talks covering “economic cooperation, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Taiwan issue and preparations for upcoming high-level meetings,” according to Chinese media.
Qin and Blinken had already exchanged criticism on Wednesday, during a telephone conversation that marked the first high-level bilateral contact in months, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.
The Chinese minister then called on the United States to cease actions that harm China’s sovereign security and development interests “in the name of competition.”
Blinken urged Qin to “keep the lines of communication open” to avoid conflict.
Blinken’s office previously admitted that no major breakthroughs are expected in the talks, given the many areas of friction between Washington and Beijing.
The idea remains of initiating a diplomatic “thaw” and maintaining a dialogue to “responsibly manage the Sino-American relationship,” the State Department said regarding the visit, according to the French agency AFP.
Blinken’s visit was initially scheduled for February, following a meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Indonesia in November.
The trip was postponed at the last minute, due to a Chinese balloon flyover over US territory, which Washington considered a spy and Beijing said it was a weather device that had strayed from the route.
As Blinken flew to China, Biden downplayed the balloon episode.
“I don’t think the leaders [chineses] knew where the balloon was, what it contained and what was happening,” he told reporters on Saturday.
“I think it was more shameful than intentional,” he added, quoted by AFP.
The meeting between Qin and Blinken will be followed by a working dinner, according to the US agency AP.
On Monday, Blinken will hold further talks with Qin, as well as senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi and possibly Xi Jinping, the AP added.
The previous US Secretary of State to visit China was Mike Pompeo, in October 2018.
Source: TSF
