Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has arrived in Beijing to meet with Chinese leaders for two days.
This is the first time an American official has been to China in almost five years.
The main goal of the talks, according to US sources, is to calm down a relationship that has become very tense.
It comes almost five months after a previous Blinken visit was cancelled because a Chinese spy balloon was seen flying in US skies.
Related Posts
The US has been making it clear that it doesn’t have high hopes for the visit, and both sides have clarified that they don’t expect any significant progress to be made.
US officials say the goal is to get high-level lines of contact back open and to calm down ties that have been tense since the balloon incident.
China has held military drills close to Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a part of China. The US keeps close links with Taiwan’s government, which the people chose.
Three key issues in essential talks between the US and China
There is a full schedule, with discussions with the Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and a top Chinese official in charge of foreign policy, Wang Yi.
The Americans expect to talk about the war in Ukraine, trade disagreements over high-tech computer technologies, the fentanyl drug problem in the US, and how the Chinese government treats human rights.
Chinese officials have been excellent about Mr Blinken’s visit and have asked if the US is trying to improve ties.
It’s unclear whether he’ll meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Mr Blinken has been the most important US government figure to visit China.
“If we want to make sure that our competition with China doesn’t turn into a fight, which we do,” Mr Blinken told reporters on Friday, “the first step is to talk.”
Later, he said he hoped to meet President Xi in the next few months.
Fears of a new Cold War were quickly calmed when President Biden and Xi Jinping met in Bali in November, but since the balloon incident, there hasn’t been much high-level contact between the two leaders.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has arrived in Beijing to meet with Chinese leaders for two days.
This is the first time an American official has been to China in almost five years.
The main goal of the talks, according to US sources, is to calm down a relationship that has become very tense.
It comes almost five months after a previous Blinken visit was cancelled because a Chinese spy balloon was seen flying in US skies.
The US has been making it clear that it doesn’t have high hopes for the visit, and both sides have clarified that they don’t expect any significant progress to be made.
US officials say the goal is to get high-level lines of contact back open and to calm down ties that have been tense since the balloon incident.
China has held military drills close to Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a part of China. The US keeps close links with Taiwan’s government, which the people chose.
Three key issues in essential talks between the US and China
There is a full schedule, with discussions with the Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and a top Chinese official in charge of foreign policy, Wang Yi.
The Americans expect to talk about the war in Ukraine, trade disagreements over high-tech computer technologies, the fentanyl drug problem in the US, and how the Chinese government treats human rights.
Chinese officials have been excellent about Mr Blinken’s visit and have asked if the US is trying to improve ties.
It’s unclear whether he’ll meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Since President Joe Biden took office in January 2021, Mr Blinken has been the most important US government figure to visit China.
“If we want to make sure that our competition with China doesn’t turn into a fight, which we do,” Mr Blinken told reporters on Friday, “the first step is to talk.”
Later, he said he hoped to meet President Xi in the next few months.
Fears of a new Cold War were quickly calmed when President Biden and Xi Jinping met in Bali in November, but since the balloon incident, there hasn’t been much high-level contact between the two leaders.
