Anthony Blinken plans to travel to China this month as the Biden administration works to improve badly deteriorating relations with China
Posted Date – 11:30 PM, Fri – 09/06/23
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Washington: Secretary of State Anthony Blinken plans to visit China this month as the Biden administration works to improve relations with China, which have soured badly.
U.S. officials said Blinken was expected to meet with senior Chinese officials in Beijing on June 18, including Foreign Minister Qin Gang and possibly Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the U.S. State Department nor China’s foreign ministry confirmed the trip.
The visit, agreed upon at a meeting between Xi Jinping and President Biden in Bali last year, was originally planned for February but was delayed after the U.S. shot down a Chinese plane in a spy balloon, which Beijing insisted was a The weather balloon has gone off course.
Since then, there have been contacts between the U.S. and China, but they have been rare as tensions have escalated over China’s behavior in the South China Sea, its aggression against Taiwan and its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Last week, China’s defense minister rejected a request by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the Singapore Security Symposium.
However, China’s commerce minister visited the United States last month and Biden’s national security adviser, Jack Sullivan, met China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna in early May.
The White House said at the time that the meeting “is part of an ongoing effort to keep lines of communication open and manage competition responsibly.
The parties agree to maintain this important strategic communication channel to advance these goals. Most recently, Daniel Kritenbrink, the top U.S. diplomat for the Asia-Pacific region, traveled to China earlier this week with a senior National Security Council official.
