Blinken in China, the beginning of a thaw with Beijing

June 14, 2023

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will make a rare visit to China this weekend where he intends to initiate a diplomatic thaw with Beijing and call for “responsible management” of tensions between the two great powers.

“Mr. Blinken will meet with senior Chinese officials there and discuss the importance of maintaining open lines of communication in order to responsibly manage the China-US relationship,” the State Department said on Wednesday, confirming the much-anticipated trip. head of American diplomacy, initially scheduled for last February.

A meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping has not been confirmed.

Calling itself “realistic”, the United States does not expect to make any major “breakthroughs” but at the very least cherishes the hope of “reducing the risk of miscalculations which could turn into a conflict”, according to US officials.

“We are not going to Beijing with the intention of making breakthroughs or transformation there,” State Department Asia chief Daniel Kritenbrink told reporters.

Another American official, Kurt Campbell, pointed out to him that “efforts to shape or reform China in recent decades have failed”, saying he expected China to remain “a major player on the international scene for the rest of our lives”.

Bilateral relations remain tense on a large number of issues: the links between the United States and Taiwan, the rivalry in technologies, trade or even Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea.

This visit of the highest American diplomat had been postponed in February after the incursion of a Chinese balloon into the airspace of the United States.

“Since the beginning of the year, China-US relations have faced new difficulties and challenges. It is clear whose responsibility lies,” Foreign Minister Qin Gang said in a phone call on Wednesday. with Mr. Blinken, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

The minister “explained China’s solemn position on the question of Taiwan”, the main point of friction between the two powers, as well as on “other essential concerns” of Beijing, underlines the press release.

China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, which it has yet to successfully reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

This visit by Antony Blinken comes in the wake of the meeting last November between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Indonesia.

The two leaders had agreed to cooperate on certain issues during their discussions.

Relations between the two powers were again tense in February after the flight over American territory by a Chinese balloon.

The American authorities had then presented it as a “spy” aircraft, while Beijing had assured that it was a meteorological craft having deviated from its trajectory.

Under pressure, Antony Blinken immediately canceled his trip to China at the last minute.

Moreover, Beijing does not hide its anger at what it considers to be expansionist aims of the United States in the Asia-Pacific region.

For its part, Washington says it is monitoring the Sino-Russian rapprochement as closely as possible, warning Beijing against supplying arms to Russia, which would be crossing “a red line”. Beijing has never condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

However, both countries have recently sought to play the appeasement card.

Beyond the reprimands, contacts have resumed at the highest level, including during a closed-door meeting held in Vienna in May between the White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, and the most senior Chinese diplomat, Wang Yi.

CIA Director William Burns also traveled to Beijing in May to meet with his counterparts.

Blinken’s visit this weekend will be the first visit by a US secretary of state to China since his predecessor, Mike Pompeo, traveled in October 2018.

But experts are tempering expectations.

“Both the United States and China wish to prevent their rivalry from escalating further (…) However, neither shows itself ready to make any major and lasting concessions, simply seeking to do what is perceived as necessary or advantageous to preserve its strategic or technological security,” said Shi Yinhong of the People’s University in Beijing.