Antony Blinken to return to China in less than a year as tensions persist

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China next week as Washington and Beijing try to keep relations on an even keel despite major differences over a path to peace in the Middle East and the supply of synthetic opioids that have heightened concerns over Synthetic Opioids Concerns. Global stability.

The two sides disagree on many fronts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, Taiwan and the South China Sea, North Korea, Hong Kong, human rights and the detention of U.S. citizens. The United States and China are also battling over trade and commerce, with President Joe Biden last week announcing new tariffs on Chinese steel imports.

The U.S. State Department said on Saturday that Blinken will make his second trip to China in less than a year, traveling to Shanghai and Beijing starting on Wednesday for three days of talks with senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Meeting.

Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping were expected to hold talks, but neither side confirmed whether they would take place until shortly before the meeting.

The State Department said in a statement that Blinken will “discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues” including the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

He will also talk about progress in “restoring counternarcotics cooperation, military exchanges, artificial intelligence, and strengthening people-to-people ties,” and will reiterate the importance of the United States and China “responsibly managing competition,” even as our two countries disagree. areas,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Biden and Xi pledged in a phone call this month to maintain high-level contacts, an agreement they reached at a face-to-face summit in California last year.

That call was followed by a visit to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and a phone call by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Lower-level meetings were also held.

Despite these contacts, relations between the two countries remain uneasy. The United States has recently been more vocal in calling on China to stop supporting Russia’s military-industrial sector, which Washington says has allowed Moscow to increase weapons production to support its war in Ukraine.

“We’re seeing China share machine tools, semiconductors and other dual-use products that have helped Russia rebuild its defense industrial base, which sanctions and export controls have severely weakened,” Blinken said on Friday.

“Now, if China claims to want good relations with Europe and other countries on the one hand, it cannot be contributing to the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War on the other.”

Blinken also urged China to take a more aggressive stance and Iran not to escalate tensions in the Middle East. He has spoken to his Chinese counterpart several times since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas six months ago, seeking China’s help in pushing Iran to limit the proxy groups it supports, arms and finances in the region.

The topic has become more urgent since Iran and Israel have engaged in direct back-and-forth attacks on each other’s territory over the past week.

Additionally, top of Blinken’s agenda will be Taiwan and the South China Sea.

The United States has strongly condemned China’s military exercises that threaten Taiwan, which Beijing views as a renegade province and has vowed to achieve reunification with the mainland by force if necessary.

Successive U.S. administrations have steadily increased military support and arms sales to Taipei, greatly irritating Chinese officials.

In the South China Sea, the United States and other countries are increasingly concerned about China’s provocative behavior in and around the disputed area.

In particular, the United States has expressed opposition to China’s attempts to obstruct other countries’ legitimate activities in the waterway, especially the Philippines and Vietnam.

It was a major topic that Biden focused on earlier this month when he held a trilateral summit with the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of the Philippines.