Politics
U.S. Secretary of State to visit China amid fears of a US-China break
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Beijing this weekend, but there aren’t high expectations for significant progress
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Beijing this weekend, but there aren’t high expectations for significant progress on the numerous disputes between the United States and China. However, according to Reuters, analysts believe that Blinken’s visit, along with his Chinese counterparts, can at least demonstrate that the world’s most important bilateral relationship is not on the verge of falling apart.
Blinken’s meetings in China, scheduled for June 18-19, may also include a potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, making him the highest-ranking U.S. government official to visit China since President Biden assumed office in January 2021, Reuters said.
In addition, during a pre-trip briefing on Wednesday, U.S. officials made it clear that they do not anticipate any major breakthroughs in the way the U.S. and China interact. This followed a tense phone call on Tuesday between Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in which Qin urged the U.S. to refrain from interfering in China’s internal affairs. Tensions are already high and a little mishap can create great damage to the two country’s relations for the time to come.
In response, China’s foreign ministry cautioned in the early hours of Friday that engaging in “vicious competition” is not the way forward and emphasized that the United States should not believe it has the upper hand in dealing with China.
According to foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin, this behavior is not what they consider responsible competition but rather extremely irresponsible hegemonic conduct, which will only escalate tensions and push China and the U.S. closer to confrontation.