With little expectation for success, Blinken begins an extremely uncommon trip to China.
Neither Blinken nor Qin said anything when they entered the meeting room.
BEIJING, CHINA: On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing for meetings. He is the highest-ranking American diplomat to visit China in five years, but his visit comes at a time of chilly relations between the two countries and little hope for progress in resolving their many outstanding disagreements.
Since President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, the highest-ranking U.S. government official to visit China has been Blinken, who delayed a February trip after a suspected Chinese spy balloon passed over U.S. airspace.
At the entrance to a villa on the grounds of Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang greeted Blinken and his party in English. They exchanged pleasantries and shook hands in front of a Chinese and an American flag.
Neither Blinken nor Qin said anything to reporters who were briefly allowed in the room after they had gone into a meeting.
To prevent the strategic competition between the two countries from escalating into conflict, Blinken is scheduled to meet with China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi and potentially President Xi Jinping during his trip, which will last until Monday.
Blinken’s travel is seen as a stepping stone to additional bilateral discussions between the two countries in the coming months, with potential visits from Janet Yellen, the Treasury Secretary, and Gina Raimondo, the Commerce Secretary. It may also pave the way for Xi and Biden to meet later in the year at global gatherings.
On Saturday, Biden expressed his desire to meet with Chinese President Xi in the coming months.
After the purported Chinese surveillance balloon flew over the United States in March, high-level communication between the two countries has been scarce. A meeting between the two leaders in November on the Indonesian island of Bali briefly soothed fears of a new Cold War.
Due to the potential impact on global financial markets, trade routes, and practises, and supply chains, Blinken’s trip will be closely monitored by the rest of the globe.
A senior State Department official told reporters in Tokyo while refuelling for Beijing, “there’s a recognition on both sides that we do need to have senior-level channels of communication.”
In a crucial moment for the partnership, the official stressed the importance of “stopping the downward spiral in the relationship” and “reducing the risk of miscalculation.”
Relations between the two nations are at an all-time low, and there is growing fear that China and Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own, could eventually come to blows militarily. Trade, American efforts to slow China’s semiconductor sector, and Beijing’s human rights record are all points of contention between the two countries.
The fact that China has refused, despite repeated American efforts, to hold regular military-to-military talks with the United States is a major source of concern for its neighbours.
At a press briefing on Friday, just before he left for Beijing, Blinken outlined the trip’s three primary goals: establishing crisis management systems; advancing U.S. and allied interests; and speaking directly about relevant concerns.
Blinken emphasised the importance of open dialogue in preventing a dangerous escalation of tensions between the United States and China. He also promised to bring up the subject of American citizens being held in Chinese prisons on allegations the United States claims are politically motivated.
A U.S. official indicated that boosting commercial flights between the two countries will be considered, calling it a step that would help improve people-to-people ties, but adding that he did not expect any progress to be made.
However, in a briefing call earlier this week, U.S. officials downplayed hopes for significant progress during the visit. The officials stated that while Blinken intends to have “candid, direct, and constructive” talks, they do not expect any big issues, like as the supply of fentanyl precursors or the detention of Americans in China, to be resolved.
According to the U.S. official, a major topic of discussion was how to get China to help stop the production of fentanyl precursors. According to the United States, China has been hesitant to collaborate on this matter.
