WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to China next week, rescheduling a visit that was previously canceled in February following a dispute over a suspected surveillance balloon, according to US officials.
Blinken is expected to arrive in Beijing on June 18, marking the first trip by a senior US diplomat to China since his predecessor Mike Pompeo’s visit in October 2018. The officials shared this information on the condition of anonymity, as the State Department has not yet officially announced Blinken’s travel plans.
In November, Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in Bali and agreed to work on preventing high tensions from escalating further, including through Blinken’s visit to Beijing. However, Blinken’s earlier trip was abruptly canceled after the United States claimed to have detected and subsequently shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over its mainland. The incident drew anger from US lawmakers and denials from Beijing.
US-China Efforts to Manage Tensions
In recent times, both sides have shown efforts to manage tensions, highlighted by a comprehensive and confidential meeting between Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi in Vienna last month.
Tensions between the United States and China have escalated significantly over the past few years, particularly regarding Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that Beijing claims and has not ruled out taking by force. The two nations are also at odds over China’s increasingly assertive stance in the region, trade issues, and human rights concerns.
President Biden has expressed a desire to find areas of limited cooperation with China, particularly in the fight against climate change, in contrast to the more confrontational approach taken by his predecessor, Donald Trump.
As Secretary Blinken’s visit to China approaches, it remains to be seen how the two countries will navigate their complex relationship and seek common ground on critical issues.
