U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday kicked off two days of high-stakes diplomatic talks in Beijing after months of urging by the Biden administration for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to reestablish normal bilateral communications.
Blinken opened his program by meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang for an extended discussion to be followed by a working dinner. He’ll have additional talks with Qin, as well as China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and possibly Chinese leader Xi Jinping, on Monday.
Neither Blinken nor Qin made any substantive comments to reporters as they began the meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
Despite Blinken’s presence in the Chinese capital, prospects for any significant breakthroughs are slim, as already strained ties have grown increasingly fraught in recent years.
“One of the things that that balloon caused was, not so much that it got shot down, but I don’t think the [Chinese] leadership knew where it was and knew what was in it and knew what was going on,” the president said.
“I think it was more embarrassing than it was intentional,” he added, possibly pointing to ongoing disunity within the CCP’s ranks between long-waring factions of the party.
“And so, I’m hoping that, over the next several months, I’ll be meeting with Xi again and talking about legitimate differences we have but also how there’s areas we can get along.”
3 Main Objectives
Speaking at a news conference on Friday before departing for Beijing, Blinken said the trip had three main objectives: Setting up mechanisms for crisis management, advancing U.S. and allies’ interests and speaking directly about related concerns, and exploring areas of potential cooperation.“If we want to make sure, as we do, that the competition that we have with China doesn’t veer into conflict. The place you start is with communicating,” Blinken said. He said he would also be raising the issue of U.S. citizens detained in China on charges Washington sees as politically motivated.
But there is an expectation that Blinken’s visit will pave the way for more bilateral meetings in the coming months, including possible trips by U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. It could also set the stage for meetings between Xi and Biden at multilateral summits later in the year.
Concerns mount that the United States and China’s relations may devolve into a kinetic war.
Any escalation between the two largest economies in the world could majorly impact global security and stability on multiple fronts, from financial markets to trade routes and practices and global supply chains.
The United States and China are currently also at odds over a range of issues, from trade and U.S. efforts to hold back China’s semiconductor industry, to the CCP’s human rights violations, the regime’s military aggression in the South China Sea, the flow of fentanyl precursors from China to the United States, and Americans detained in China.
The CCP is developing military capabilities specifically designed to overcome and annihilate U.S. systems in the Indo-Pacific. These include new aircraft carriers, space, and counterspace capabilities, and the largest nuclear expansion since the Cold War.
Following his China visit, Blinken will travel to London June 16–21 for the Ukraine Recovery Conference to encourage international support among public and private sectors to aid Ukraine in fighting Russia, the State Department said.
