Antony Blinken Makes A Rare Visit To China On To Bring Down Temperature

On Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in China, the highest-level visit by a US official in over five years, as opposing countries seek to defuse escalating tensions.

Neither side anticipates any breakthroughs during Blinken’s two-day visit, as the world’s two largest economies are at odds on a wide range of topics ranging from trade to technology to regional security.

However, the two countries have increasingly expressed a desire for better stability, and they perceive a small window before elections next year both the United States and Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that Beijing has not ruled out conquering by force.

Blinken had been scheduled to come four months earlier, the result of a friendly summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in Bali in November.

However, Blinken unexpectedly canceled the trip after the United States reported it detected a Chinese spy balloon over US territory, prompting strong calls for a response from hardliners in Washington.

Before leaving, Blinken stated that he would aim to responsibly manage our relationship by seeking methods to minimize miscalculations between the countries.

“Intense competition requires sustained diplomacy to ensure that competition does not veer into confrontation or conflict”, Blinken added.

Prior to Blinken’s visit, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin stated that the US should “respect China’s core concerns” and collaborate with Beijing.

“The United States needs to give up the illusion of dealing with China from a position of strength. China and the United States must develop relations on the basis of mutual respect and equality, respecting their difference in history, culture, social system, and development path”, he added, referring to frequent US criticism of China’s human rights record.

Blinken is the first top US diplomat to visit Beijing since his predecessor, Mike Pompeo, who advocated for an all-out war with China in the last years of Donald Trump’s presidency.

In practice, if not in tone, the Biden administration has maintained Trump’s hard approach and has gone further in areas such as seeking to prohibit the shipment to China of high-end semiconductors with military applications.

Blinken was speaking with Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who stated that the area wanted the United States to remain a power while also figuring out how to cohabit with a rising China.

According to Balakrishnan, Blinken’s trip is important, but not sufficient.

“There are fundamental differences in outlook and values. And it takes time to develop mutual respect and strategy”, he added.

Antony Blinken spoke via phone with his counterparts in Japan and South Korea during his 20-hour trans-Pacific flight, as part of the Biden administration’s emphasis on keeping allies close.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security advisor, traveled separately to Tokyo for separate three-way discussions with Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.

In recent months, the US has agreed to troop deployments in southern Japan and the northern Philippines, both of which are strategically close to Taiwan.

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