US Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a high-profile visit to China on Sunday, meeting with senior Chinese officials for talks that Washington hopes will reopen regular communications with Beijing after years of rising tensions.
Blinken is the first secretary of state to visit China in five years, amid China’s strict lockdowns over the coronavirus pandemic and tensions over the autonomous island of Taiwan, Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s human rights record Beijing, energetic Chinese military moves in the South China Sea. and technology trade.
The top US diplomat began two days of meetings with lengthy talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and other officials, and a working dinner at the Diaoyutai State Guest House. Neither Blinken nor Qin made substantive comments when their talks began.
Blinken is scheduled to hold further talks with Qin as well as China’s top diplomat Wang Yi, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Office, on Monday. Observers see a possible meeting with President Xi Jinping as a barometer of Beijing’s willingness to re-engage with Washington after years of icy ties.
The visit comes after nearly a year of strained relations between the Biden administration and Beijing, which began with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in August.
Other irritants include China’s diplomatic and propaganda support for Russia for its war against Ukraine, and US accusations that Beijing is trying to increase its surveillance capabilities around the world.
Blinken postponed a planned February trip to China after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over US airspace and was shot down. This visit took place despite the revelations earlier this month of a multi-million dollar Chinese spy base in Cuba.
‘Legitimate differences’
Blinken told reporters before leaving on Friday that Washington wants to improve communications “precisely so that we can make sure that we’re communicating as clearly as possible to avoid potential misunderstandings and miscommunications.”
President Joe Biden told White House reporters on Saturday that he “hoped that in the coming months I will meet again with Xi and talk about the legitimate differences we have, but also about how … to get along.”
US defense officials say Chinese officials have rejected phone calls since blink canceled a planned trip to Beijing in February because of the Chinese spy balloon. Beijing claims it was a weather balloon.
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu also refused to meet with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month, and Li used the forum to accuse the US of “double standards.”
There have been recent high-level contacts, including a trip to China by CIA chief William Burns in May, a visit to the US by China’s trade minister, and a meeting in Vienna, Austria, between Wang and Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
However, in a pre-meeting phone call between Blinken and China’s foreign minister on Wednesday, Qin indicated that China would not compromise on its “core interests,” including that the autonomous island of Taiwan be reunited with the mainland, according to a reading issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.
Qin said Washington should “show respect, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs, and stop undermining China’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” the reading said.
Fall Summit Opportunities
The Reuters news agency quoted a senior State Department official as telling reporters during a refueling stop in Tokyo that Washington and Beijing understand they need to communicate more.
“Both sides recognize that we need to have high-level communication channels,” the official said.
“That we are at an important point in the relationship where I think reducing the risk of a miscalculation, or as our Chinese friends often say, stopping the downward spiral in the relationship, is an important thing,” the official said.
“I hope this meeting can help bring Sino-US relations back to what the two presidents agreed to in Bali,” Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Hua Chunying tweeted.
Biden and Xi met face to face on the sidelines of a Group of 20 major economies summit in November and agreed to try to re-establish dialogue despite stark differences.
The two leaders have the opportunity to meet later this year, including at the Group of 20 leaders’ meeting in September in New Delhi and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November in San Francisco.
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